The daily number of COVID-19 cases in the Chittoor district hit 1,024 on Friday, the highest since September last year.
While the Tirupati Municipal Corporation and the surrounding areas recorded 424 cases, the Chittoor Corporation reported 77, and the communities of Srikalahasti and Punganur 40 and 37 cases, respectively.
Virus prevalence, which remained limited to around a dozen mandalas at the beginning of the month, has now expanded to 61 of 66 mandalas in the district, with most of the new cases in the areas bordering Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. The surge in COVID cases in Bengaluru and Chennai is having an impact on Chittoor District as hundreds of merchants and vendors continue to travel to these two busy destinations.
The district also saw an unprecedented surge in May last year when the Koyambedu market in Chennai became a hotbed of new infections.
Disturbing trend
District Medical and Health Physician M. Penchalaiah was alarmed by the increasing incidence and said the dispersion was 60% in the urban areas, followed by 40% in the rural belt.
“Although we saw over 1,400 cases a day in the district in August last year, the number of 1,024 on Friday is still the highest in the second wave period in a month. Our number one priority is monitoring patients in isolation and accelerating the tracking of primary and secondary contacts, ”said Dr. Penchalaiah.
The impact of the second wave has once again resulted in a drop in utilization not only on the APSRTC buses, but also on the express trains that run through the Chittoor district towards Chennai, Bengaluru and Vijayawada. The share cars, which circulate in large numbers on both National Highways towards Nagari and Nagalapuram, have largely gone off the road, with the number of passengers gradually falling. The public transport in the western mandalas towards Karnataka is also poorly used in buses and auto rickshaws.