Curfew-like situation prevailing at Gurla in Andhra Pradesh’s Vizianagarm district following outbreak of diarrhoea

Curfew-like situation prevailing at Gurla in Andhra Pradesh’s Vizianagarm district following outbreak of diarrhoea. Authorities sparing no effort to ensure sanitation in every street in the mandal headquarters. Water being supplied to households through tankers. Household survey reveals no new cases.

A curfew-like situation prevails at Gurla in Vizianagaram district following an outbreak of diarrhoea, with the people remaining indoors and almost all shops closed at the mandal headquarters, which is the main business center for nearly 25 villages.

Strangely, the number of employees of various government departments moving on the streets is more than the local residents.

People seeking to protect themselves from the communicable disease have left for nearby towns such as Nellimarla, Garividi, Cheepurupalli and Vizianagaram. Those who have already contracted the disease are avoiding contact with neighbours on the advice of the government authorities.

Women are venturing out of their homes only to fetch water being supplied through tankers by the government. The officials have stopped supply of water through pipelines and directed them not to consume water from borewell too.

“We are consuming only hot water and cleaning the house thrice in a day. Fortunately, people living in our street are not affected. We hope normalcy will be restored in a couple of days,” says G. Santoshi, a resident of Raja Veedhi.

“The fear of contracting the disease made many move to other towns,” says G. Suryanarayana, a resident of Gurla.

“We have stopped sending our children to school though our village is located two km from Gurla,” says B. Ramesh, a resident of Kotagandredu.