Chittoor police have intensified their surveillance at border checkposts and along rural roads connected to Tamil Nadu from Satyavedu to Kuppam as COVID-19 cases crossed the 500 mark, with 32 new cases being reported on Friday alone.
Superintendent of Police S. Senthil Kumar and COVID-19 Special Officer (Nagari) P. Ravi Raju, along with task force personnel, inspected red zones in Puttur town, from where nine cases were reported on Friday.
Officials took stock of the rise in COVID-19 cases in Puttur, Nagari, Nindra, Pichatur, Vadamalapeta, Karveti Nagaram, Nagalapuram and Satyavedu mandals. They inspected border checkposts at Nagari and Satyavedu, and instructed the duty personnel to mount vigil on the movement of vehicles and strictly discourage public movement without valid passes.
While a majority of the cases during the last one week have had links with Chennai, sporadic cases were identified with a travel history to Mumbai. The district headquarters of Chittoor also witnessed four cases on Friday, prompting the task force to carve out red zones. Tamballapalle mandal, in the western-most part of the district, which has remained largely free of COVID-19 cases, saw one case being reported, of a trader who had travelled to Chennai and Karnataka.
The field staff of the Revenue, Medical and Police Departments brought to the notice of the SP that in recent weeks, the incidence of public movement from Chittoor district towards Tamil Nadu saw a spurt. In villages with a small border with Tamil Nadu, some men had crossed over to the neighbouring State to purchase liquor, as it is available at cheaper rates. A couple of days ago, police at the Pallipattu-Kollagunta border checkpost seized liquor bottles from a local youth.
COVID-19 Special Officer Dr. Ravi Raju said that in view of the proximity to Chennai and high vulnerability of the spread of the virus, the public were instructed to wear masks compulsorily while venturing out for essential errands. He said that shopkeepers should also wear masks and strictly discourage customers visiting them without masks.
Following a request from medical officials, SP Senthil Kumar instructed Deputy SP (Puttur) D. Muralidhar to reduce the relaxation hours for public movement in Puttur municipal limits upto 3 p.m.
