Two persons, distant relatives of a COVID-19 victim - a 70-year-old woman from Gauribidanur in Karnataka - who tested positive on Tuesday have been quarantined along with other close relatives.
While the first COVID-19 positive person from Anantapur is a 10-year-old boy from Lepakshi, the second is a 30-year-old woman from Hindupur.
Confirming this, District Collector Gandham Chandrudu said both were relatives of the Gauribidanur woman who had visited Mecca and came visiting the families of these two persons, who have now tested positive.
Local transmission
The Mecca-returned woman died last week after suffering from symptoms of COVID-19. While 30 persons related to her were put under quarantine at Hindupur Government Hospital, another 145 persons were also being monitored as they had come in contact with the deceased woman in Anantapur district during her visit to Balaji Hospital in Hindupur.
Meanwhile, the district administration has declared two colonies - Tipu Colony and Dange Colony - ‘Red Zones’, where the COVID-19 positive patients resided. District Medical authorities, however, said both the positive patients had very mild symptoms and it was not a cause of immediate concern.
Cause for concern
However, the cause for utmost concern is the identification of 78 persons hailing from Anantapur who had attended a religious congregation at Nizamuddin in Delhi from March 15 to 17. Of the 78, 29, who returned to the city have been quarantined at the Cluster Livelihood Resource Centre in Anantapur and their samples have been collected. While four of them have not come to Anantapur as one has migrated to Hyderabad, the other is in Khammam, one is still in Delhi, while the fourth is somewhere in Bihar.
The remaining 45 persons got in touch with the district administration officials, and they are all being brought to the quarantine facility in the city. Further, their samples would also be taken as directed by the Union Health Ministry.
