Coronavirus spread touches new heights in pilgrim city
People violate all norms imposed under Covid protocol at Nallugukalla Mandapam junction in Tirupati
Tirupati: The Covid-19 spread is intensifying in Chittoor district and more so in Tirupati with the tally has been reaching 17,500 mark. The indications strongly predict that the cases in August will be of no match to previous months as the daily cases have been almost nearing 1,000 continuously for the last three days. Up to July 31, there were 11,789 positive cases out of which 10,177 have been reported in July itself.
Since August 1, around 6,000 cases were registered till now. The government has been saying continuously that the cases will skyrocket to unimaginable numbers in August which may take the district tally to somewhere around 30,000 mark by the end of this month.
The pilgrim city has started its Covid journey rather slowly but gained momentum within no time to occupy top place in the district with no other mandal can come closer to it soon. The City and its rural segment together account for about 9,500 cases which is about 54 per cent of the district total.
The death toll has also been maintaining the pace with the increasing number of cases. As against 10 deaths up to June 30, July month alone witnessed 106 deaths whereas during the first eight days in August as many as 52 deaths were registered taking the total deaths to 168.
Though many officials were of the view that people have been ignoring the norms and moving freely without any hesitation and precaution which is causing the severe spread of the deadly virus. When community spread of virus has started people should be more cautious and maintain self-restraint in moving around, they opined.
Even after containment norms were imposed in Tirupati and various other places, the cases are going up unabated due to careless attitude of people during relaxation hours as there was no enforcement mechanism. The officials have been concentrating on providing more infrastructure to meet the ever-increasing requirement. They have taken up the process of recruiting more doctors, nursing staff and data entry operators among others keeping in view the increasing needs.