GUNTUR: Four doctors from Narasaraopet tested positive for coronavirus on Saturday and Sunday. One among them is a 63-year-old, owner of a hospital in Arundelpet, and the other doctors, one of whom is his daughter-in-law, work for him.
All four doctors were isolated at NRI Hospital and their 167 primary contacts, many of whom were treated by them, have been shifted to quarantine centres, Guntur Rural SP Ch Vijaya Rao said.
With the fresh cases, the town's COVID-19 tally increased to 50. The 63-year-old had treated a home guard, a primary contact of a collection agent, who later died of COVID-19 at Guntur Fever Hospital on April 10. As many as 21 of the agent's primary contacts were traced and five of them were found to be carrying the virus. It may be mentioned that 14 persons who tested positive in the district were treated in a private hospital in Narasaraopet. Even as the police department has increased the police presence in the hotspot, they were still trying to identify the reason for the spread of virus.
Three platoons of eight CIs, 14 SIs, 10 head constables and 50 constables have been deployed to maintain law and order and strictly enforce lockdown in Varavakatta, Ramireddypeta, Arundelpet, Nimmathota, NGO Colony, Mohiuddinpet, Palnadu Road and Kotappakonda Road in Narasaraopet which have been declared red zones.
South Coastal Guntur Range IG J Prabhakar Rao formed a team, led by Additional SP K Chakravarthy, to monitor the situation. The police have closed 44 internal roads in the red zones, and are using CCTVs and drones to restrict the movement of public. Meanwhile, 29 of the 50 COVID-19 cases in Narasaraopet were identified in Varavakatta. The IGP urged the denizens to cooperate with the police and adhere to lockdown norms. He asked the public to notify doctors or police if anyone they knew was suffering from symptoms of coronavirus.
Containment zones inspected
Guntur: Andhra Pradesh public health advisor Dr Kamal Raj has directed officials concerned to take steps to contain the spread of coronavirus in Guntur district. Kamal Raj, along with district collector and special officer I Samuel Anand Kumar, joint collector AS Dinesh Kumar and Guntur Municipal Corporation chief C Anuradha on Sunday inspected containment zones at Anandapet and Chakalikunta in the city