Covid surge rings alarm bells in Chittoor

Tirupati: The negligence in following Covid safety protocols has been resulting in the surge in positive cases in Chittoor district. Along with the increasing cases, Covid deaths have certainly been ringing warning bells indicating that the disease should not be taken easily. With the spike in Covid cases, fears of a second wave of the pandemic have galore.

The district topped the Covid deaths tally in the state with 856 deaths so far. In the last 10 days itself about seven deaths occurred in the district. In the last two days, 145 new positive cases have been reported out of which 60 are on March 11 while another 85 on Friday. Out of the new cases being reported, Tirupati rural and urban are getting more cases pressing the need to take strict containment measures.

After the first Covid case was reported on March 24, 2020, the district witnessed the ugly face of Covid during July to September though huge numbers of cases have been reported in other months as well. Since November 2020, the cases witnessed a downward trend and even reached single digit daily cases for several days.

With this everyone started taking Covid in a lighter vein and believed that the pandemic times were over. People started ignoring hand sanitisation, physical distancing and majority of them are not even wearing masks. The increased economic, social and spiritual activities have also led to huge congregations thereby increasing the risk of spreading the virus.

The district gets a big jolt a couple of days back with the positive cases reported for 50 students of TTDs Dharmagiri Veda Patasala. They have been isolated now at SVIMS state Covid hospital. Further, three students of a corporate school in Chittoor were tested positive while another student of a private junior college there also got positive.

The Corporation Commissioner P S Girisha has issued show cause notices to the managements for their failure in making alternate arrangements. DM&HO Dr M Penchalaiah told The Hans India that following the Covid norms, the Commissioner asked the school and college managements to close the institutions for one week. Admitting that the cases have been increasing, he said that the apathetic attitude in following the Covid protocols was the main reason besides several other aspects. The department has been monitoring the situation and advising the people on the importance of using masks and following physical distancing.

The ongoing Sivaratri celebrations where Covid norms could not be seen have become another threat. People have been thronging to all other temples without any physical distancing and not wearing masks properly.