The city of Visakhapatnam reported its first case of COVID-19, as a man who recently returned from Saudi Arabia tested positive for the coronavirus on Thursday evening. He is the third person to test positive for the pandemic in Andhra Pradesh.
According to reports, the 65-year-old from Alipuram had recently returned after a pilgrimage to Mecca and Madina, following which he began to show symptoms of the coronavirus and was admitted to the Government Hospital for Chest and Communicate Diseases in Visakhapatnam. The Andhra Medical College (AMC) conducted the tests and said that they returned positive. His health condition is stable and is being constantly monitored.
Andhra Pradesh’s second case is a person who came from London on March 13. He reached New Delhi and took a flight to Hyderabad the next day. He was tested positive for coronavirus on Thursday. The first case, a patient who returned from Italy, is stable.
As a second positive case of coronavirus was reported in the state on Thursday, the Andhra Pradesh government issued a ‘Stay at Home’ notice to all those who returned from overseas and decided to keep all major temples, including the famed Sri Venkateswara temple atop Tirumala, closed for devotees to contain the spread of the disease.
Places of worship belonging to all other religions will also be kept out of bounds for devotees while the state government ordered cinema theatres and malls to stay shut till March 31 from Friday. Already, all educational institutions have been asked to close till the month end to check the spread of coronavirus.
The annual public examination for Class 10 students, scheduled to begin on March 31, will be held as usual to avoid inconvenience to students, Education Minister A Suresh said.
The Centre appointed senior IAS officer S Suresh Kumar as the nodal officer for the state for effective management of coronavirus.
A report from Tirupati said all routes, including the stairway, leading to Tirumala have been sealed from Thursday evening itself to stop pilgrims inflow.
"The daily rituals in all these temples will, however, be performed by the priests. Only the devotees will not be allowed, Deputy Chief Minister for Medical and Health AKK Srinivas (Nani) said, briefing reporters after a high-level review meeting on COVID-19, chaired by Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy.
Andhra Pradesh is the latest to join a number of states, including Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, that have announced a virtual lockdown ordering closure of malls, resorts, theatres among other places of large public gathering to battle the deadly virus.
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