The number of persons from Anantapur district who had attended Tablighi Jamaat congregation between March 13 an 15) in Hazrat Nizamuddin in New Delhi has gone up from 49 to 77. Now the district administration has tracked all of them and brought them to COVI-19 quarantine facilities.
Andhra Pradesh Backward Classes Welfare Minister Malagundla Sankarnarayana visited the Technical Training Development Centre at Rapthadu on the city outskirts on Thursday morning. The minister enquired about the quarantine arrangements from the 49 inmates and about their health condition from District Medical and Health Officer K.V.N.S Anil Kumar .
Samples of 137 persons have been taken so far - 77 Nizamuddin returnees and 60 others. “The VDRL Laboratory which has been converted into a COVID-19 testing centre has so far received 463 samples with 168 coming from Anantapur district and the rest from Kurnool, Kadapa and other places,” Head of Department of Microbiology G. Swarnalatha said.
A big sigh of relief
It was a big sigh of relief for all the 49 inmates, some of them Nizamuddin returnees, and others from Dehradun and Uttar Pradesh as all their samples have tested negative in the results announced in the morning. Dr. Anil Kumar told The Hindu that a list of 192 first contacts (relatives and friends) of the 77 Tablighi Jammat attendees was ready with them. And if anyone from the remaining 48 cases to be tested turn out positive, all the 192 would be put in quarantine and tested, he added.
Meanwhile, “the health of both COVID-19 positive cases, a 10-year-old boy and 34-year-old woman, both hailing from Lepakshi and being treated in the Isolation Ward at Government General Hospital at Hindupur, is fine and there was no cause of concern,” District Coordinator of Hospital Services (DCHS) N. Ramesh said.
Private nursing homes on standby
Moreover, private nursing homes are also being readied to be handed over to the district administration in case more number of positive cases come up in the district. In addition to the Designated COVID-19 hospital - the GGH - 58 beds in another private hospital are ready. Five suppliers have come forward to supply Personal Protection Equipment for the health professionals and negotiations are on.
