Municipal Corporation of Tirupati (MCT) officials at a meeting conducted to find out the reasons for rampant spread of COVID-19 infection in Tirupati on Thursday squarely blamed the influx of visitors into the temple city after the relaxation of the lockdown norms.
Municipal Commissioner P.S. Gireesha, Deputy Inspector-General of Police (Ananthapuram Range) Kanthi Rana Tata and Superintendent of Police (Tirupati Urban) Avula Ramesh Reddy, who took part in the review meeting, observed that the sudden flow of passengers to Tirupati after the lockdown norms were relaxed made things go out of control.
Tirumala devotees
The spurt in the positive cases was attributed not only to the Tirumala-bound devotees who are thronging the hill town after the Lord Venkateswara temple was thrown open for darshan, but also the air passengers to Tirupati who reached here from across the nation.
However, they appreciated the frontline warriors, be it the medical professionals, police or the sanitary workers, for keeping the situation under control during the first four months of the lockdown.
Officials of the municipal and health departments who participated in the meeting explained why and where the situation appeared to have gone out of control.
Mr. Gireesha spoke on the need to enhance testing rate and also focus on contact tracing to contain the virus spread to a great extent.
