Chittoor district COVID Vaccination Special Officer M. Sireesha said that they had to cut down ‘Tika Utsav’, a four-day vaccination festival, due to shortage of vaccine doses. The programme would be undertaken all over the district only on April 14, for which more than 50,000 doses has been kept ready.
“There might be some delay in arrival of vaccine doses for now, but each and every person in the district would be covered as per schedules, with current focus on those aged 45 and above,” she said.
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Meanwhile, the district on Monday recorded as many as 654 COVID cases, showing a slight decline compared to the figures of the last two days which added to 1,459.
Though the district police administration has stepped up efforts to enforce the facemask rule at all vulnerable areas, particularly targeting the border towns and villages adjoining Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, the success rate is perceived to be around below 50%.
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In order to intensify the campaign, Superintendent of Police S. Senthil Kumar launched distribution of masks to the public at several places under Chittoor municipal corporation limits. He appealed to the public to give top priority to wearing of facemasks while venturing out, as it is the first line of defence against the virus.
Hefty fines
Public Relations Officer (District Police Office) Nayeem Baig said that police personnel in all mandals in Madanapalle, Palamaner, Chittoor and Puttur sub-divisions had started imposing hefty fines on the public violating the facemask rule. This campaign would be further intensified, he said.
District Collector M. Hari Narayanan held an emergency meeting with the medical and health department officials at Tirupati on Monday to take stock of the COVID situation in Tirupati and Chittoor municipal corporations.
He instructed all medical and paramedical staff to be ready to resume COVID duties once again as the ditrict is seeing an exponential rise in cases. The Collector said over 3,500 beds have been kept ready at both government and private facilities, and the number would be increased as and when necessary.