44 new coronavirus cases in Andhra Pradesh, tally climbs to 647

A possible community transmission of the dreaded coronavirus in Vijayawada city has triggered a major scare even as the number of positive cases in Andhra Pradesh climbed further up on Sunday to 647 in the last 24 hours and the toll to 17.

In all, 44 new cases were added to the tally in the last 24 hours ending 9 am on Sunday, as the state government said a record 5,508 tests were carried out during the period. With a total of 65 discharged and 17 deceased, the number of active coronavirus cases in the state stood at 565.

According to the state Covid-19 Dashboard, an aggregate of 26,958 tests were carried out till date, of which 26,311 turned negative. Of the 75 coronavirus positive cases reported in Krishna district, Vijayawada alone had 60.

The entire city has been classified as red zone or containment zones with controlled movement of vehicles. Authorities have identified a few major hotspots like Kummaripalem and Karmika Nagar where more than 10 cases each were registered so far.

"Of late, many cases are being reported from people whose family members had no foreign returnee or Tablighi Jamaat connection. Their family had either drivers who had inter-state travel or people who move among public like ward secretary or fair price shop dealer," Krishna District Collector A Md Imtiaz pointed out.

He attributed the spread of the viral disease to violation of physical distancing norms by people, particularly in the small lanes and bylanes of the city.

"The worrisome factor is contacts of this category are mainly those people who live in the neighborhood of positive cases.

This clearly proves that social distancing in the small lanes and bylanes is not being followed by people at large," Imtiaz observed. Vijayawada apart, Kurnool the other major hotbed of Covid-19 is also sending shivers among the administration as 26 fresh cases were added in the last 24 hours ending 9 am on Sunday.

Kurnool district tops the state with a total of 158 positive cases and four deaths so far. The famous doctor in Kurnool city, who died of coronavirus early this week, was suspected to be a major carrier as many of his family members contracted the disease while the authorities were now busy tracing his other contacts.

"In the last few days, he treated over 1,000 people as out-patients while there were about 80 in-patients in his hospital. Besides, he had a staff of about 70 members. So, now we are tracing and screening all of them," a top official of the health department said.

Kurnool district Collector G Veerapandian appealed to those who got treated by the doctor after March 20 to voluntarily get screened. "Once these people are identified and tested, the number of cases may possibly spike," the top official said.

Meanwhile, 23 Covid-19 patients had fully recovered and been discharged from hospitals in different districts of the state. Of those discharged, nine were from West Godavari district, six from Kadapa, three each from Visakhapatnam and Chittoor and two from East Godavari, according to the daily bulletin.

Image Credits: PTI