Five new positive COVID-19 cases were reported in Nagalapuram mandal headquarters of Chittoor district on Saturday. All the cases were linked to the Koyambedu in Chennai, thus bringing the cases linked to the market to 15, and the total number of cases in the district to 101.
Revenue and police officials rushed to Nagalapuram, on the Puttur-Chennai national highway, and turned it into a containment zone.
Superintendent of Police S. Senthil Kumar inspected the mandal headquarters and the surrounding villages. He said that the new cases, in addition to Friday’s 10 cases, were traced to Koyambedu market. “All these patients work as vegetable vendors, drivers and cleaners who keep shuttling between the eastern mandals and the Koyambedu market,” he said. Following the detection of the cases, red zones were created at Satyavedu, Varadaiahpalem, B.N. Kandriga and V. Kota mandals so far.
160 identified
Collector Narayana Bharat Gupta told the media here that 160 persons who maintained prime contact with the Koyambedu were identified in the district. Tests were conducted for 80 persons, and the remaining would be completed in a couple of days. He appealed to the public of the affected mandals to voluntarily reach out to the officials of their concerned areas or inform the district administration through helplines if they had any contact with Chennai market in recent weeks.
Surfacing of COVID-19 positive cases in Nagalapuram led to tension in the neighbouring mandals of Puttur, Nagari, Nindra, Pitchatur and Narayanavanam. It is observed that several small vendors from here procured the vegetable stocks from Nagalapuram and Satyavedu to supply to the local markets.
