Fight on to shield rural Andhra Pradesh from coronavirus

Seven new rural clusters were added on Saturday, taking their total number to 74 in Andhra Pradesh.
A doctor requesting the sick to get themselves checked at medical camps set up by the civic body in Vijayawada on Saturday (Photo | Prasant Madugula, EPS)
A doctor requesting the sick to get themselves checked at medical camps set up by the civic body in Vijayawada on Saturday (Photo | Prasant Madugula, EPS)

VIJAYAWADA:  While a majority of Covid-19 patients are from urban areas, positive cases are also emerging from more rural clusters in the state. Seven new rural clusters were added on Saturday, taking their total number to 74 in Andhra Pradesh. They are Korisipadu (Prakasam), Kamarapalle (Anantapur), and Bhavanapadu, Bandi Atmakur, Vanigandla, Krishnagiri and Veldurty in Kurnool.

Five districts—Kurnool, Guntur, Krishna, Chittoor and Nellore—accounted for 710 of the 955 cases reported till Friday. Of them, 180 cases were recorded in rural areas. The remaining were from Narsaraopet in Guntur; Nandyal, Nandikotkur, Atmakur, Bethemcherla and Dhone municipalities in Kurnool; and Srikalahasti in Chittoor. In Kurnool, of the 261, urban areas accounted for the maximum 210 cases. Kurnool city has turned a hotbed for Covid-19 with 139 cases; other major municipalities including Nandyal accounted for the remaining 71. 

Other 51 cases were reported from not just rural mandals adjoining Kurnool and Nandyal, but also from remote Gadivemula, Orvakal and Veldurty, officials said. Due to the rising number of positive patients from rural areas, district collector G Veerapandian has instructed officials and police to keep a strict vigil in such areas.  Kurnool SP K Fakeerappa has warned that criminal cases will be registered against lockdown violators and appealed to the people not to come out of their homes for trivial reasons. In Guntur district, which has crossed the 200-mark by reporting 206 cases, 49 were recorded from rural areas. 

Guntur city and Narasaraopet, a major town in the district, have turned into hotbeds for Covid-19 as they account for 157 cases. Dachepalli (11), Nulakapet (3), Dolas Nagar (3) and Tadepalli (3) in Tadepalli municipality, Sharaf Bazaar in Ponnuru, Mangalagiri (2), Achampeta (4), Tipparla Bazaar (2), Karlapalem, Karampudi, Turakapalem of Medikonduru mandal, Uppalapadu in Pedakakani, Sivalayam street of Chilakaluripet and Chagallu village of Nekarikallu mandal recorded the remaining cases.

District collector I Samuel Anand Kumar, however, ruled out community transmission. “We have directed the police to strengthen vigil and ensure that the restrictions are implemented in the red zones so that the virus does not spread further,’’ he said and added that the primary and secondary contacts of patients were being identified and shifted to quarantine centres. However, in Krishna district, which stands at the third spot with 102 cases, 82 patients hail from densely-populated Vijayawada.  The entire city has been declared a containment area and several areas, including Krishna Lanka, Karmika Nagar and Bhavanipuram, are red zones. 

Rural areas from where infections were reported are Penamaluru (6), Jaggaiahpet (4), Machilipatnam (3) and Chandarlapadu, Nandigama, Vijayawada rural and Kankipadu. Krishna collector A Md Imtiaz, elaborating on the containment measures, said the spread of the virus in rural areas was not severe when compared to Vijayawada city, the only urban area in the district. “Most of the positive cases were either of Delhi and Punjab returnees or their contacts. All family members, relatives and close contacts of 20 infectees were shifted to quarantine centres arranged across the district,’’ he said.

In Chittoor, temple towns of Srikalahasti and Tirupati accounted for a majority of the 73 coronavirus positive cases. The infectees in the rural areas are from remote locations such as Chinnagottagallu, BN Kandriga, Nindra, Palamaneru and the likes. While Srikalahasti (43) and Tirupati (8) made for most of the cases in the district, the remaining were reported from Palamaneru (3), Nagari (4), Nindra (2), BN Kandriga (1), Yerpedu (2), Renigunta (2), Varadaiahpalem (1), Puttur (1), Erravaripalem (3), Chinnagottagallu (1), Vadamalapeta (1) and Chandragiri (1). 

“The district administration has been put on high alert and will respond immediately when a positive cases is reported at mandal level. Rapid response teams will reach the area and take measures to prevent the spread of virus,” said district collector Dr Narayana Bharath Gupta. Of the 16 hotspots in the district, 12 are in rural areas, he added. 

Meanwhile, 30 cases, of the 67 overall in Nellore district, were detected from the urban areas. As many as 29 cases were reported from Nellore town, 10 from Naidupeta, one each from Buchireddypalem, Ozili, Gudur, Dagadarthi and Bogole, two each from Indukurpeta, Allur,  Kovur and TP Gudur,  four from Tada and seven from Vakadu. With this, district collector MV Seshagiri Babu re-categorised the mandals and as per new categorisation, Buchireddypalem, Naidupet, Nellore rural, Tada, Vakadu and Allur were declared red zones.  Balayapalli, Gudur, Indukurpet, Kavali, Kovur, Ozili, TP Gudur, Bogole, and Dagadarthi are under the orange zone in Nellore district.

Related Stories

No stories found.
The New Indian Express
www.newindianexpress.com