To face any kind of exigencies, the Chittoor district administration has readied about 100 railway coaches as quarantine and isolation facilities in Tirupati.
The Carriage Repair Shop (CRS) and the South Central Railway(SCR) are working to equip the coaches with all facilities. The coaches, designed to accommodate nine patients each, would be on the move at various places under the zone.
Inspection
District Collector Narayana Bharat Gupta, who was at the Tirupati railway station to inspect the trial run of the railway coaches on Tuesday, said: “All the 23 cases reported in the district so far are primary and secondary contacts. Fortunately, everyone who had come in contact with Jamaat returnees had followed quarantine measures and did not move out of their houses. Results for 499 cases are awaited.”
The official said that as many as 1,816 foreign returnees in the district had completed their 15-29 day quarantine period. Of the 1,138 suspect cases, 894 had tested negative for the virus.
Mr. Narayana Bharat Gupta said that the COVID-19 task force was instructed to complete collection of samples from all the quarantined cases, as suggested by the ICMR format.
Distribution of masks under way
He asked the duty personnel to be doubly cautious at the hotspots and red zones in the district and directed the medical and paramedical staff at the PHCs to be available round the clock for the public. He said that as per the State government’s decision, distribution of face masks to all the households in the district was under progress.
Senior officials of the Railway Protection Force (RPF), medical, revenue and police officials accompanied the Collector during inspection.
