The spreading of news over the identification of a migrant worker with COVID-19 symptoms near Jammalamadugu has become a cause of fear for the residents of this town bordering Kurnool district. Though the worker has been isolated and being diagnosed for cold and fever, it is not yet confirmed if he has tested positive.
The case has its roots in Nossam village, where the male suspect lives along with his fellow workers. He is learnt to be a part of a 70-member group of migrant workers from Rajasthan hired by a local railway contractor for some work in the vicinity. Though Nossam technically falls in Kurnool district, the residents of this cluster regularly visit the nearest major town Jammalamadugu, 16 km away, for their trading and recreational activities.
Rajasthan workers
The issue saw light after the suspect, along with some of his co-workers, was found to have visited his home town in Rajasthan and returned to Nossam via Secunderabad just before the lockdown was announced. When he visited the local PHC with a complaint of fever, the doctors referred him to the Kurnool General Hospital to be doubly sure.
Police identified and swooped down on 24 of his co-dwellers and shifted them to the quarantine centre in Proddatur. “We have marked the seven villages in the bordering Peddamudiyam mandal as a ‘red zone’ for enumerating the residents in the neighbourhood and also for enforcing a tight vigil to restrict inter-district movement,” Deputy Superintendent of Police N. Nagaraju told The Hindu.
Even as the test result of the sample sent to SVIMS, Tirupati is awaited, Jammalamadugu continues to remain in gossip and panic mode.
