Top Telangana officials rush to hotspot Suryapet
Hyderabad, April 22 (IANS) A team of top officials of Telangana government on Wednesday visited Suryapet district to assess the situation in the wake of a sudden spurt of Covid-19 cases and take steps to prevent the spread.
On the direction of Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao, Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar, Director General of Police Mahender Reddy and Medical and Health principal secretary Shanti Kumari rushed to Suryapet to personally monitor the situation.
The officials, who reached the town in a helicopter from Hyderabad, visited the vegetable market, from where most of the cases were reported.
The top officials held a review meeting with district collector Vinay Krishna Reddy, Superintendent of Police Bhaskaran and other officials to review the situation.
Somesh Kumar later told reporters that they were visiting Suryapet to get a first-hand account of the situation in the district, which has so far registered 83 Covid-19 positive cases.
They asked the local officials to strictly implement lockdown norms and ensure zero movement of people in containment zones. He said all the contacts of the affected people were traced and quarantined.
Suryapet, one of the eight hotspot districts in the state, had reported 26 positive cases on Tuesday. Those tested positive include six children with one-and-half-year old being the youngest.
According to officials, 57 positive cases were reported in the district during the last six days. A total of 210 people are under quarantine at government-run centres while 4,346 are home quarantined.
Officials said 13 out of 26 tested positive on Tuesday belong to three families of a village. The virus is suspected to have spread from one person to three families. He had come to the vegetable market in Suryapet for a transaction and came into contact with an affected person.
The government has appointed IAS officer Sarfraz Ahmed as the special officer for Suryapet to take all necessary steps to check the spread of coronavirus.
After visiting Suryapet, the team of officials left for a visit to Jogulamba Gadwal and Vikarabad districts. The chief secretary has also appointed special officers for the two districts.
–IANS
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