Vijayawada: The number of Covid-19 cases in Andhra Pradesh went past the 1,000 mark on Saturday with 61 persons testing positive on Saturday. Two more persons, one each from Kurnool and Krishna districts, died of the disease, taking the toll to 31.
Importantly, Srikakulam district recorded its first three Covid cases on Saturday. Vizianagaram is now the only Covid-19 free district in the state.
Srikakulam collector J. Nivas said a man working on the Delhi Metro Rail returned to his native village Patapatnam on March 19. He was kept in home isolation and surveillance by the health authorities.
“After completion of home quarantine, he did not show any symptoms. He came forward for a confirmation test. We conducted tests on him along with 29 primary contacts. Of them, three of his family members tested positive for coronavirus,” he said
The collector said that after the Tablighi Jamaat incident, where several returnees turned positive, the district administration tracked all the people coming from other cities. A total of 211 persons had come from Delhi to the district during last month, he said. The district administration has raised a red alert at Patapatnam mandal.
Of Saturday’s cases, 25 were from Krishna, Kurnool 14, Anantapur five, four each from Kadapa and Nellore and three each from East Godavari, Guntur and Srikakulam. A total of 171 patients have been discharged, and the state has 814 active cases.
The new cases in Kurnool took the total number of positive cases 275. Of them, 259 cases are active and 24 have been discharged after they tested negative twice.
The five new cases in Anantapur district were reported from Hindupur. A 15-year-old boy from Balajinagar tested positive after contracting the infection from his father. Two others, a 41-year-old man from RTC Colony and a 46-year-old man from Ninkampalli, tested positive after coming into contact with two positive patients separately. A 24-year-old man from Housing Board Colony contracted the infection from a family member of a Macca returnee. Anantapur district now has 51 cases.
In Nellore district, three men hailing from Kovur, Nellore and Muthukur tested positive as did a woman village volunteer. The Nellore stands at 72.
In Kadapa district, four new positive cases took the total at 55. Three were from Proddutur and one from Yerragulta village. A head constable working in Proddutur infected with the Coronavirus was shifted to an isolation ward and his primary and secondary contacts are being traced.
