With a COVID-19 positive case being detected in Vijayawada’s Krishnalanka, the entire area comprising six municipal wards has been declared completely shut down, starting from Monday. Residents have been instructed not to leave their homes. In essential circumstances, they have been asked to leave only after obtaining permission from the local police, and while wearing masks and carrying sanitisers. 

The shutdown was announced after a resident of the area who had recently returned from Mecca tested positive for coronavirus. The 65-year-old man had recently travelled to Mecca, returning to Hyderabad on March 9. After returning from Hyderabad to Vijayawada by bus on March 10, he only developed symptoms on March 27, after which he was admitted to the Vijayawada Government General Hospital and his sample collected. 

Ward numbers 16,17,18, 20, 21 and 22, which includes all of Krishnalanka area, including Rani Gari Thota, have been shut down. The streets have been sanitised, and a door-to-door survey is underway to identify those who came in contact with the patient, or are showing symptoms, a VMC official said. 

With this, five cases have been detected in Vijayawada. The first case was that of a 24-year-old man who had returned from Paris. He travelled from Paris to Delhi on March 15, and from Delhi to Hyderabad by flight on March 17. He took a cab from Hyderabad to Vijayawada, reaching on March 18. He was admitted to the Vijayawada GGH on March 20 after he developed symptoms. The area around his residence in One Town area was also sealed off by authorities as a containment measure, and door-to-door surveys were conducted.

The second case was that of a 22-year-old man who had returned from Washington in the US. After landing in Delhi, he was screened and monitored before being discharged and taking a flight to Vijayawada on March 22. He was admitted to the Vijayawada GGH on March 23.  

Another case was that of a Guntur man who had recently returned from Delhi. He went home to Guntur via Vijayawada, and was later admitted to the GGH in Vijayawada on March 23. 

The fourth case was that of a man who had returned from Stockholm to Vijayawada through Delhi on March 18. After developing symptoms, he was admitted to the Vijayawada GGH on March 25.