A 40-year-old person with a ‘home quarantine’ stamp on his forearm heading towards Khammam in a cab was stopped by personnel manning a checkpoint in Yerrupalem mandal along the inter-State border with Andhra Pradesh on Sunday morning.
Sources said the man, a native of Khammam town, was returning home from Bengaluru Airport where he arrived from Qatar on Saturday, sources said.
Advised self isolation
On his return from abroad, he got a ‘home quarantine’ stamped on his forearm as per the guidelines. Further, he was advised by the authorities to remain in self-isolation at his home for the mandatory two-week period as a safety precaution, sources added.
He reportedly travelled from Bengaluru to Vijayawada in a car and from where he hired a cab to reach his home in Khammam. Staff at the checkpoint near Yerrupalem noticed the stamp on his forearm during a vehicle checking drive on Sunday morning and referred the matter to the authorities of the District Headquarters Hospital in Khammam.
No COVID-19 symptoms
While he did not show any symptoms of COVID-19, the medical staff concerned, however, advised him to strictly comply with home quarantine norms.
Meanwhile, joint teams comprising officials of the Police, Transport, and Health departments stepped up vigil at all the five inter-State border checkpoints - two in Khammam district and three in Bhadradri-Kothagudem district - as part of intensified surveillance measures against COVID-19.
Vehicular traffic from neighbouring States has been curtailed by police as an additional safety precaution to check the spread of coronavirus. Only vehicles carrying perishable goods and other essentials are exempted from the traffic curbs.
The ‘Janata Curfew’ has brought normal life to a standstill across the erstwhile composite Khammam district with TSRTC bus services and other modes of public transport services remaining suspended.
Coal production hit
Coal production came to a grinding halt in all the 10 coalmines of the Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL) in the Kothagudem region as the entire workforce - barring emergency staff - of the State-owned mining giant remained indoors in response to the call to make ‘Janata Curfew’ a success to give a fillip to the collective fight against the global scourge.
