Visakhapatnam: The agency tracts in Visakhapatnam are slowly wriggling out of the clutches of Covid-19, which has claimed 53 lives in the second wave.
Additional district medical and health officer Dr P. Leela Prasad said 1,500 samples were tested during the last 24 hours and only 35 tested positive with mild infections. The agency having 11 mandals has a population of 6.5 lakh with 33 PHCs, a district hospital and two areas hospitals.
The doctor said only a handful of patients are at the Covid care centre and they, too, would be discharged in a day or two. Similarly, he said 22 patients who underwent treatment in district hospital in Paderu also recovered and were on their way home.
“The situation is fully under control and local residents are adhering to the norms of Covid-19 protocol,” he said.
He feared after that lifting of curfew from Monday there could be increase in the cases if people swarm around market places and government offices and banks. The weekly markets held in various mandals would resume and bring traders and customers from neighbouring Odisha and East Godavari and this is a cause for worry, Dr Prasad said.
Superintendent of district hospital at Paderu Dr P. Krishna Rao said 465 patients were admitted in the second wave and of them 53 succumbed to the virus. Many patients died in Visakhapatnam government and private hospitals where the family members took them hoping for better treatment.
He said timely installation of ventilators, oxygen equipment and deployment of medical officials saved lots of lives in the agency.
Another senior medical officer said 70 per cent of the infected persons were non-tribals who were highly mobile, moving from one place to another on business purpose. Adivasis living in remote hamlets kept themselves aloof and saved themselves, he added.
