ANDHRA PRADESH Elusive Covid suspect from Indonesia held, nine isolated

As news spread that an Indonesian, who is a Coronavirus (Covid-19) suspect, was missing, it led to tense moments to the police and health officials here on Friday, and instead it led to nine bus passengers, his cojourneymen, being taken to the isolation ward at Kurnool government hospital.

Police at Veldhurti got information from RTC managing director that a Covid-19 suspect was travelling in a bus from Dharmavaram to Kurnool. They were told to intercept the bus and detain the passenger. But the Indonesian passenger got down from the bus at Dhone, much before the cops could reach it. When a subinspector of police intercepted the bus, it had nine passengers. All of them were taken to the Kurnool government hospital for observation and kept in isolation wards. They all said that the Indonesian suspect was sneezing and coughing.

The police intensified their search for him and learnt that he was travelling by the Sampark Kranti Express (Tirupati-Nizamuddin Delhi). They alerted the security at Kurnool railway station to detain him. The health team and police nabbed him and took him in an ambulance to an isolation ward at a government hospital. Dr Rama Giddaiah, district medical and health officer, said that the suspect has been kept in an isolation ward. Dr Giddaiah said that as of now, 187 people have been kept under house observation. Nearly 300 foreign returned people have been identified in the district, he said.

The remaining 123 had either given a wrong address or were not available in the district, he said. A door-to-door survey was initiated across the district and all houses were being checked to account for foreign returnees, he said. Influx of religious preachers from Indonesia and Vietnam is proving to be a major problem in Kurnool district, was the refrain of several officials.

They said that mosques in the districts were regularly engaging services of Indonesiabased clerics to preach and indoctrinate the congregations of religious Islamic scholars.

It was learned that at least 10 Indonesian / Vietnamese origin religious teachers were found to have visited masjids in Kurnool district in last few days. A health official said that they were kept in isolation wards created in masjids.