Health officials worked overtime to vaccinate as many persons as possible by fanning out to remote places, as 116 persons tested positive for COVID-19 in south coastal Andhra Pradesh in the last 24 hours.
The number of active cases shot up to 402 in Nellore and Prakasam districts, according to a health bulletin issued by the State government on Friday night.
For the first time, the daily count touched the three-digit mark after remaining in single digits till recently. Police personnel and their family members accounted for most of the 89 new cases reported in Nellore district during the period. The men in uniform had returned after performing bandobust duty in Kotappakonda in Guntur district, Nellore District Medical and Health Officer S. Rajyalakshmi said.
The much-feared UK strain entered the region as four persons carrying the fast-spreading virus variant were found in Prakasam district and shifted to the Government General Hospital (GGH) in Ongole. Health workers tested all their primary and secondary contacts.
Symptomatic cases were shifted to hospitals and the asymptomatic cases were confined to their homes, Prakasam District Medical and Health Officer P. Ratnavalli said while overseeing the arrangements made for the vaccination programme at Machavaram and Tangutur villages on Saturday.
Health workers went door-to-door in select villages of Maddipadu and Pedaraveedu in Prakasam district with a view to cover all the eligible persons on a saturation basis.
So far, 1.60 lakh persons were vaccinated in Nellore district and another 1.29 lakh persons in Prakasam district. “We are fully geared up to provide vaccines to all persons above 45 years of age from Monday,” Dr. Ratnavalli said.
From Monday, two divisions would be covered on each day in Ongole and other urban civic bodies, she said and exhorted the eligible persons to volunteer to take the vaccine in their own interest.
