Bhadrachalam: Temple town to undergo week-long self-lockdown

Bhadrachalam: The temple town of Bhadrachalam is slowly moving towards self-locking in the wake of increasing corona positive cases with each day as the Chamber of Commerce is planning to shut down all shops at least for one week in the first phase to reduce the severity of the spreading of the virus.

Already small hotels, barber shops and rice mills were closed and ration shops are kept open till 3 pm only. Plywood, paint and other hardware shops are working till 2.30 pm. Chamber of Commerce secretary Kambhampati Suresh Kumar opined that there must be more than 100 positive cases in the town though the officials are quoting only 20 existing cases. Some traders got corona positive and undergoing treatment, he added. Since the situation is serious, a decision for self-lockdown will be taken within two or three days after consulting various political parties and volunteer organizations, he added. It's learnt that a few of Ramalayam employees are planning to go on leave.

Thousands of devotees, people and traders have been visiting the town for Lord Rama darshan, business purpose and treatment from neighbouring States Chhattisgarh, Odisha and Andhra Pradesh every day as the State government lifted restrictions to enter into the State.

The locals are urging the government to impose restrictions on people entering the town from neighbouring States.

A medical officer in Bhadrachalam said the virus is spreading from people, who are coming to the town for treatment and business purposes. He also observed that the chances of spreading the virus are more from the people of East Godavari, Andhra Pradesh, which is closer to Bhadrachalam, with a higher number of positive cases reported.