Visakhapatnam Agency currently reporting close to nil Covid-19 cases

The second wave of Covid-19 seems to have subsided in the Visakhapatnam Agency, with no new cases reported in the area in the last one week. The situation was grim earlier, with hundreds of cases being seen at the Andhra Pradesh Vaidya Vidhana Parishad (APVVP) District Hospital in Paderu. That was the time when a lot of tourist footfall was being witnessed in the agency area. According to the health officials at Paderu, there are only a few active cases now in hospitals and they are taking precautions for the third wave of Covid-19. 

With a population of around 7 lakhs, spread over 11 mandals in the Visakhapatnam Agency, very few of them are reporting the new cases. In a recent testing, on around 470 individuals in 11 mandals, zero positive cases were reported. Currently, there are only 18 active cases being treated at the District Hospital or under home isolation. 

Speaking to Yo! Vizag, Additional District Medical & Health Officer (DMHO) Paderu, Dr. Leela Prasad, said, “Currently, the situation in the agency area is much better with a low number of active cases. A few days back, four students from Ananthagiri had tested positive for Covid-19 and are now under home isolation. As their school is close to Visakhapatnam city, they are said to have been affected when they visited the city for holidays before the schools reopened.”

According to health officials at Paderu, there has been close to a nil spread of the virus in the Visakhapatnam agency and the few cases that have been observed have come from the interior villages. Now that the situation is better, the health officials are working on spreading awareness among the tribals on the third wave of the pandemic. As the weekly markets have resumed in the agency area, people are visiting Visakhapatnam Agency from neighbouring districts and Odisha. Accordingly, locals have been asked to maintain strict Covid protocols. “We haven’t seen many cases during weekly shandies either. Random tests are being conducted at schools and villages where we find no cases. Even the cases that are being reported are either asymptomatic or with mild symptoms,” said Dr. Prasad. 

In view of the third wave of the pandemic, District and Area Hospitals, and Primary Health Centres (PHCs), in Visakhapatnam Agency are being equipped with necessary oxygen cylinders, oxygen concentrators and beds. In this regard, two oxygen tanks are going to be set up in the Araku and Paderu areas.