The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD) trust has appealed to devotees visiting the Venkateswara Temple in Tirumala to take precautions to avoid the spread of COVID-19 in the temple town. Additional Executive Officer of TTD, AV Dharma Reddy, has asked people to avoid going to the temple if they are suffering from symptoms of coronavirus, like cough, cold and fever. 

Visitors have also been asked to come prepared with sanitisers and masks, and to maintain a distance of three feet with others to avoid spreading the disease. “We also appeal to the devotees to avoid or postpone their pilgrimage, if they are suffering from cough, cold and fever as the chances of spreading is more in a place like Tirumala which is always abuzz with pilgrim activity,” Dharma Reddy said. 

Thermal screening will be done, and if anyone is seen suffering from mild fever, they will be sent to the SVIMS (Sri Venkateswara Institute of Medical Sciences) hospital for treatment, a TTD statement said. 

The TTD board held a meeting on Saturday to discuss measures to deal with the disease, where Dharma Reddy said that the board has taken up preventive measures to avoid the entry and spread of coronavirus in Tirumala. Messages are being broadcast on the radio and the Sri Venkateswara Bhakti Channel (SVBC), a channel run by the TTD, in various locations across the town including places where pilgrims and TTD employees interact, he said. 

The board has also constituted a dedicated committee comprising the TTD Health Officer and Deputy Executive Officers to monitor the issue. 

The board also announced that the more densely crowded places around the temple, like the queue complexes and the Central Reservation Office (CRO), will be disinfected by the health department every two hours. 

Last week, a Taiwanese national who was under isolation at the Tirupati Government General Hospital, tested negative for coronavirus. Till date, no cases of coronavirus have been found in Andhra Pradesh.