Health officials went into high alert mode after it emerged that 140 persons — 93 from Prakasam district and 47 from Nellore district — returned home recently from the United Kingdom, where a new and more virulent strain of coronavirus has been discovered.
All 140 persons have been kept under surveillance.
“We are keeping a close watch on their health condition. The situation is very much under control,” said Nellore Collector M.N. Harendhira Prasad. Thirty-six of the flyers had returned to Nellore city.
In Prakasam district, officials swung into action and identified as many as 93 UK returnees. While some of them were put in the social empowerment centre, others were allowed to stay at home. Their health condition is being monitored on a regular basis. Incidentally, the first positive case in Prakasam district was a student who had returned from the UK.
“We have taken mouth swabs from all the foreign returnees. None of them have tested positive for COVID-19 so far,” Prakasam District Medical and Health Officer P. Ratnavalli told The Hindu .
Meanwhile, only 37 new cases were registered in the last 24 hours, taking the cumulative number of confirmed cases in South Coastal Andhra Pradesh to 1,25,539. With 52 patients making a recovery, the caseload dipped further to 691 in the two districts, which recorded zero deaths during the period.
