Coronavirus cases continued to be on the rise in south-coastal Andhra Pradesh as 79 more persons — 47 in Prakasam district and 32 in Nellore district — tested positive in the last 24 hours.
Health officials are now worried about a spread of the disease at the community-level as more people without a travel history to COVID-19 hotspots are contracting the virus.
Nellore city accounted for 12 fresh cases, followed by Kovur with 11. Dagadarthi, Kavali, Duttalur, Kalavai, Marripadu, Vinjamur and Doravarisatra reported one case each. One person each from Prakasam district and Chittoor district also tested positive, taking the total number of active cases to 236 in Nellore distict, a health bulletin compiled by the Medical and Health Department said.
In Prakasam district, a stringent lockdown was implemented in Ongole which registered nine new cases. The infected persons were from, among other places, Revenue Colony, Nirmalnagar, Pernamitta, Indiramma Colony, and Bhagyanagar. Markapur reported eight new cases and Kandukur five cases.
In Chirala, which reported four new cases, police shifted people found moving outside without a valid reason to quarantine centres.
No travel history
Twenty patients in Prakasam district had no travel history to COVID-19 hotspots either within the State or outside. While 19 persons were primary contacts of already infected persons, three others were secondary contacts of the patients under treatment.
A 36-year-old person who died on his return from Hyderabad to Parchur, tested positive for the disease. A 55-year-old woman and a 48-year-old man, who had returned from Chennai to Prakasam district, also tested positive. The virus spread to more areas in the district as remote Ramabhadrapuram village reported three new cases. Raviguntlapalli, Singarayakonda, Inkollu and Mangamuru accounted for two fresh cases each. East Gangavaram, T.B.V.Palem, V.V. Palem, Polinenichervu, Nuthalapadu and Yerragondapalem registered one new case each.
