Eleven jail staffers in Kurnool district and nine in Anantapur district tested positive for COVID-19 around three weeks after taking the second dose of vaccine, officials said.
All of them suffered only from mild symptoms and subsequently resumed their duties after the end of their mandatory home isolation period of two weeks, it is learnt.
Anantapur District Jail Superintendent Narasimha Reddy told The Hindu that none among their staff members were affected by the pandemic during the first wave, but 10 out of their 50 personnel contracted the virus during the second wave. Thankfully, nobody suffered from any major health complications, he said.
Four inmates at the COVID-designated jail at Gooty had tested positive and were shifted to hospital. They were sent to the concerned sub-jail only after testing negative, said Anantapur sub-jail in-charge Manohar Reddy.
Three jail staff at the Penukonda sub-jail tested positive during the second wave after taking both doses of the vaccine. In all, 30 out of the 62 personnel manning the seven sub-jails had tested positive in both the waves.
Kurnool District Jail Superintendent Pocha Varunareddy said seven out of the 30 staff members had tested positive for COVID-19 in the second wave after taking both doses of the vaccine, but all of them had mild symptoms. Dhone has been designated as the COVID-19 jail for testing and those testing positive were sent to hospitals, said sub-jails in-charge Md. Shafiur Rehman.
All the jails in both the districts were planning another vaccination drive in the last week so that all the new inmates, who need the first dose of vaccine, and the small number of staff and inmates needing the second dose could complete their schedule.
