COVID-19: Andhra minister visits red zone in Machilipatnam, assures people of all help

Andhra Pradesh transport minister Perni Venkatramaiah along with the police visited the red zones of Machilipatnam on Monday and assured the people of all help amid the lockdown.

Police have tightened the restrictions in the town and several areas have been put under high alert after one positive case of coronavirus was detected on Saturday.

Urging the people to act responsibly, the minister said: "I appeal to the public not to come out of the area. I assure all of you that daily needs will be door delivered by ward volunteers if needed. Even then if a problem is not resolved, you can call me at any time."

Check posts have been set up all over the town to monitor the situation. District SP Raveendranath Babu himself took stock of the situation and urged the people in the red zone area not to come out until April 10. The police have stopped all vehicular movement in the area.

As many as 37 new cases of coronavirus were reported in Andhra on Monday, taking the total tally of cases in the state to 303.

"37 new coronavirus positive cases are detected in Andhra Pradesh from 9 AM to 6 PM on Monday. With this the total number of coronavirus positive cases have increased to 303 in the state," read a medical bulletin by state nodal officer.

With an increase of 704 cases in the last 24 hours, the total number of COVID-19 positive cases in India climbed to 4281, said the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Monday.

As many as 111 deaths have been reported across the country due to the deadly illness. There are 3851 active cases in the country while 318 people have been cured/discharged/migrated.