Chittoor : District of Concern

Tirupati: With a 92 per cent increase in Covid positive cases registered during March 1-15, Chittoor district has been identified as one among the 70 'districts of concern' by the Central government in the country. It is one out of five districts of concern from Andhra Pradesh.

The district has reported 919 positive cases from March 1 to 20 while eight deaths were reported during the same period. While the daily cases were in double digits in the last 20 days, the highest number of 90 cases were reported on March 14 and 20, followed by 85 on March 12, 72 on 18th, 60 on 11th and 58 on 19th.

Pilgrim destination Tirupati continues to top the daily cases tally. Out of the 90 cases reported on Saturday, 63 are from this city only followed by Tirupati Rural with nine cases. At least 10 to 15 other mandals have been reporting one or more cases indicating that the rural areas are once again witnessing the spread of the virus.

The most worrying factor was that students and teachers are becoming victims of coronavirus. After the episodes of TTD's Dharmagiri Veda Patasala and a school and a college in Chittoor, two students of Damalacheruvu High School got positive on Friday along with two more in IIT, Tirupati. A few students and teachers of government schools in Tirupati were also tested positive.

Parents say that the physical distancing imposed among the students in the initial days of reopening was not there now. "Everything has become quite common now which is scaring us as children from different areas are coming and mingling with each other closely", commented a mother.

Chittoor district Collector M Hari Narayanan recently reviewed the situation and directed the officials to ensure wearing of masks by everyone without fail. He specifically told them that students and teachers in all private and government schools and colleges have to wear masks or else actions should be initiated.

Following this, Chittoor Corporation Commissioner P Viswanath warned that fines will be imposed on those coming out of homes without masks from Sunday. Police and revenue officials will hold joint operations to ensure this.

DM&HO Dr M Penchalaiah said that as part of sentinel surveillance at least 10 students from each school in every mandal are to be tested for Covid.

The doctors are advising that people should be more cautious in following Covid norms as the virus is still rampant and will prevail there for a long time. Following Covid precautions is the only way out to get rid of the deadly virus, they suggest.