33 stranded AP students to reach Vizag, after a month since leaving Italy

Thirty-three students from AP, who returned from the COVID-19 ravaged Italy, will finally be arriving at their respective homes on 13 April, 2020. Reportedly, most of the students hail from North Andhra districts including Visakhapatnam and Vizianagaram.

According to sources, the group of students from AP, including five girls, are pursuing different courses in Milan and its surrounding areas. In wake of the coronavirus pandemic in Italy

, they left for Delhi and reached the capital city on 15 March 2020. Despite testing negative, the students were quarantined for two weeks at Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) camp at Chhawla, as a precautionary measure.

On 10 April, they hired a bus and started for home with a police escort. The bus was to travel via Utter Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh, and Odisha, before reaching Andhra Pradesh. However, their vehicle was stopped in Chattisgarh owing to the lockdown. Reportedly, the students were shifted to a nearby quarantine centre set up in a tribal welfare girls hostel and were held there for a day. Upon the intervention of the Andhra Pradesh State Government and the Union Home Ministry, the bus was finally permitted to go ahead on Sunday evening. All the 33 Andhra Pradesh students are likely to reach their respective hometowns by Monday evening.

Meanwhile, the number of coronavirus cases soared to 432 in Andhra Pradesh. A total of 12 new cases have been reported as on 13 April, 2020. The State Government is ramping up measures to contain the spread of the coronavirus. In this regard, the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has directed the officials, on Sunday, to distribute three masks each to the 5.3 crore people in the state.