Protest
Protest

Mild tension in Andhra's Guntur district as residents oppose quarantine centre in village

While police resorted to lathicharge, locals were seen pelting stones in return.

Mild tension prevailed at Gundimeda in Andhra Pradesh's Guntur district after several locals gathered outside a COVID-19 quarantine centre and staged a protest. 

The locals were protesting against the district administration's move to shift about 30 people, who were primary contacts of people who tested positive for the coronavirus, to the centre in their village. 

Feeling that this would lead to coronavirus spreading in their village, they picked up an argument with authorities and demanded that the contacts be taken away. 

Videos showed many locals trying to storm the premises, as the police held them back with ropes.  

As the police guarded the gates and had to resort to a lathicharge to control the swelling crowd, many of those who had gathered pelted stones in return. A few people faced minor injuries in the scuffle. 

At one point, the locals were even seen breaking through and entering the premises as policemen chased them with lathis. Following this, an additional force was deployed to restore normalcy. A police picket was set up outside the quarantine centre to avoid any untoward incident. 

Guntur has been one of the districts worst affected by the COVID-19 crisis in the state, besides the districts of Kurnool and Krishna. 

The total COVID-19 tally in Andhra rose to 4,659 on Sunday as a total of 130 new coronavirus cases were detected in the state in a 24-hour period. At present, there are 1,290 active cases, while the death toll is 75.

With a recovery rate of 58.32 percent, the Andhra Pradesh government said that it ranks sixth among the states. The national recovery average is 48.2 percent.

A medical bulletin issued by the Nodal Officer said that 17,695 more samples were tested in the 24 hours till 9 am on Sunday, compared with 12,771 tests done in the preceding cycle.

Andhra Pradesh's mortality rate of 1.64 percent ranked 10th among the states, according to figures released by the state government on Saturday.

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