Even as the COVID-19 situation in the rest of Chittoor district seems to have taken a corner, the unrelenting daily count in rural areas continues to worry officials.
Of the district’s tally of 597 on Friday, the two municipal corporations of Tirupati and Chittoor accounted for 70 cases and the six municipalities of Madanapalle, Punganur, Palamaner, Puttur, Nagari and Srikalahasti for 25 cases in all, but a major chunk of the infections--502--was reported from the rural areas. This has been the case for the last one week during which the rural areas have been reporting 500-plus cases every day.
As many as 21 out of 65 mandals continued to report cases in double-digits ranging from 37 to 10, while the rural side of four mandals had zero cases. From March last year till date, Chittoor district has registered 1,618 deaths, the highest in the State, with the cumulative tally being 2.21 lakh and with 5,858 active cases.
No respite in border areas
It is found that the curve is unrelenting mainly in areas bordering with Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. Though the government transport service is yet to be resumed, private vehicular movement has picked up in the last one week. The fleet of share-autos, which was off the roads for several months, has started plying in rural areas again.
In this background, District Medical and Health Officer U. Sreehari said the field staff on COVID duties was instructed to focus on rural areas while conducting 10,000 tests daily. He said the vaccination drive was also doing well in all areas of the district.
Meanwhile, police officials have started implementing lockdown norms strictly, limiting the business hours to 2 p.m. Deputy SP (Madanapalle) A. Ravi Manohar Achari said the business hours in Madanapalle were restricted from 6 a.m. till 2 p.m. Beat constables are seen on the outskirts of municipalities which sees crowding.
Deputy SP (Chittoor) N. Sudhakar Reddy said that though the number of daily cases was coming down, they cannot afford to take any chances. The official said that those who violate the lockdown norms would be fined and also be inviting prosecution.
