The district authorities in Telangana were on their toes on Saturday as 17 positive cases of COVID-19 were reported from different districts.
The gravity of COVID spread in Adilabad district became evident on Saturday when as many as 10 Jamaat returnees tested positive for the viral infection taking everyone concerned by surprise. Of the 81 samples of suspects from the different isolation wards, including the 11 of primary contacts of the Hasnapur positive case, sent for test to Centre For Cellular and Microbiology (CCMB), reports of 45 were received of which 35 tested negative, according to Collector A. Sridevasena.
Reports from samples of remaining suspects would be received on Sunday, according to sources. Authorities have begun the follow-up action on identification of primary and secondary contacts of the positive cases, six of whom are from the district headquarters, three from Neredigonda mandal headquarters and one from Hasnapur village in Utnoor mandal.
Two of the positive cases, both from Adilabad town are aged 72 years while two others are in their 20s. The remaining are in the age group of 30 to 50 years.
The first positive case was known on Friday night when the report of a 24-year-old Jamaat returnee from Hasnapur was received by authorities. He is known to have come into contact with hundreds of people after coming back from Delhi on March 19 including attending a wedding at Utnoor attended by an estimated 200 to 500 invitees.
Sealed off
Hasnapur village and NTR Nagar and Hanuman Nagar localities in Utnoor mandal headquarters were sealed off completely.
Four more persons from Nalgonda tested positive for COVID, taking the total to 14, as per a report released by the District Medical & Health Officer. Results of 39 COVID suspects are awaited. As on Saturday, 40 people were in a government quarantine centre and 9,131 are quarantined at their respective homes. Two Delhi-returnees staying in a quarantine tested positive for the viral infection in Jagtial district on Saturday. Officials said that they had quarantined 73 persons in various parts of the district and sent samples for tests. The two positive cases were shifted to Gandhi Hospital.
Case in Ramagundam
The Peddapalli district administration has sounded high alert, following one person testing positive in the Ramagundam coal belt area on Saturday. The administration had announced ‘red zone’ in Annapurna colony in the 2nd division of Ramagundam Municipal Corporation covering a radius of one kilometre and barricaded the entire colony and deployed police forces restricting the movement of residents into their homes. Three persons from the Ramagundam municipality who attended Markaz prayers in Delhi were shifted to the Gandhi Hospital for isolation.
Two wards, Veerabhadra Nagar and Osman Nagar of Sangareddy district headquarters town from where two COVID cases were taken over by the district administration on Saturday.
Widespread sanitisation
The authorities have sprayed sodium hypochlorite and potasium hypochlorite using drones in the identified areas.
Meanwhile, Khammam district Collector has directed the district health authorities to set up isolation wards comprising 5-10 beds each in all the Primary Health Centres (PHCs) as part of measures to prevent the spread of coronavirus .
(With inputs from our correspondents in Adilabad, Nalgonda, Karimnagar, Sangareddy and Khammam)
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