Visakhapatnam: Coronavirus panic spreads in Revidi village

Visakhapatnam: On March 22, a person, who has a travel history to Birmingham, tested positive for coronavirus.

A resident of Revidi village under Padmanabham mandal, Bheemunipatnam constituency, the 24-year-old man is at present undergoing treatment at Government Hospital for Chest and Communicable Diseases.

After the 65-year-old-man, who returned to Visakhapatnam from Mecca via Hyderabad, and his wife from Allipuram, this is the third corona positive case registered in Bheemunipatnam constituency.

With four individuals from the same family getting infected with Covid-19, taking the total count of the coronavirus positive cases in Visakhapatnam to six, a sense of anxiety prevailed at Revidi village and neighbouring localities ever since the news broke out.

Similarly, residents of Allipuram and surrounding areas soak in fear too as two positive cases got recorded in the locality.

They wondered how many places the patients moved around and with whom they came into contact.

Meanwhile, the district administration has increased its surveillance at Revidi village, tracing the contact history of the patients.

According to Mandal Revenue Officer Padmanabham V Trinadha Rao, initially, 23 residents from the village were sent to quarantine as they came in contact with the foreign returnee who was tested positive for coronavirus. "After registering two more positive cases in the village, 10 more persons were sent to the quarantine ward for observation. Disinfection drive has been taken up in entire locality and within three-km radius of the locality," the MRO explained.

An army of volunteers and Asha workers chipped in to re-survey ten villages that fall under the Revidi and Pandrangi village secretariat limits. They are conducting the survey in 22 panchayats of the zone. Details are also being sought from those who came from other states and countries Police are preventing outsiders from entering the village.

Since Visakhapatnam tops the chart in the number of positive cases being registered in Andhra Pradesh, district administration gears up by intensifying safety measures.