Even as the nationwide lockdown enters the third phase, the Guntur district administration’s month-long efforts to contain the spread of COVID-19 in Guntur city seemed to have paid off with just 23 samples out of 800 samples testing positive during the past week.
The total number of positive cases stands at 319 on Sunday, and out of the 11 new cases since Saturday night, seven are from Narsaraopet.
The district administration has drawn up plans to continue aggressive testing, identification of persons and shifting primary and secondary contacts of persons testing positive.
Thanks to aggressive cluster containment strategies, the COVID-19 spread has been confined to the 12 clusters.
District Collector I. Samuel Anand Kumar said that the situation continued to be concerning and the entire district was in the red zone and the focus would be more on patient management.
“Let us not drop the guard and ensure better patient management by scaling up facilities in ICUs. We will also ensure that all those above 60 years showing symptoms and co-morbid conditions would be tested and, if necessary, shifted to hospitals for better care,’’ he said.
Containment clusters
The district administration has identified Guntur, Narasaraopet, Piduguralla, Ponnur, Macherla, Tadepalli, Mangalagiri, Atchempet, Krosuru, Karempudi and Dachepalli towns as containment clusters and lockdown would be implemented stringently there.
The rate of recoveries also improved drastically, with 115 persons discharged out of 319 positive cases.
The Collector said that facilities at quarantine centres were better with quality food, milk and snacks supplied to the inmates. All the 1,200 persons quarantined had been provided with ₹2,000 each.
Joint Collector A.S. Dinesh Kumar along with the Project Director, DRDA, Y. Yugandhar Kumar visited the quarantine centre at Adavitakkellapadu.
DIG , Guntur Urban, P.H.D. Ramakrishna said that stringent lockdown would continue to be implemented in Guntur city.
SP, Guntur Rural, Ch. Vijaya Rao said that areas in Narsaraopet had been placed under complete curfew in view of rising cases.
