Andhra Pradesh: Red zone extended for 28 more days in Srikalahasti

The red zone has been extended for 28 more days in Srikalahasti town of Chittoor district after two more people were diagnosed to be coronavirus positive on Sunday, informed district collector Bharat Narayan Gupta.

Narayan Gupta said that the extension of red zone for 28 more days has already been announced. Even if the lockdown is lifted in rest of the country, it cannot be removed in Srikalahasti. One must be very careful and follow the restrictions.

In wake of the coronavirus outbreak, the district collector held a review meeting with town administration at Srikalahasti Municipal Office.

"The first coronavirus positive case in Chittoor district was detected at Srikalahasti and the patient has been discharged. Now there are four active positive cases in Srikalahasti town. Two of them were detected last night and both of them have returned from Delhi," said Narayan Gupta.

"In fact, the man was tested negative at first, it may be due to late effect of the virus, or the original test result might be wrong. We are checking how it happened," he further said.

"After that we will check entire quarantine area. We will collect their swabs and get them tested. Tracing of their primary contacts won't be a problem. Right now, sanitisation work is going on and so, we request full cooperation from the public," he added.

Today is the 20th day out of the 21-days nationwide lockdown imposed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi from March 25, as a precautionary measure against the spread of the virus.

According to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the total number of positive COVID-19 cases in Andhra Pradesh is 427. Till now, 11 people have either been cured or discharged, while seven deaths have been reported.

The total number of positive coronavirus cases across the country are 9,152, including 7,987 active cases of the virus. So far, 856 patients have either been cured or discharged while 308 deaths have been recorded in the country, as per data provided by the Ministry of Health.