Covid ravages Kothagattu of Karimnagar, 12 die of virus in 20 days
Kothagattu wears a ghost town look following high number of positive cases
Kothagattu (Karimnagar): Kothagattu, a small village in Shankarapatnam mandal about 32 km from Karimnagar city, wears the look of a ghost town despite its 3,000-strong population. One is greeted by obituary flexies at the entrance of the village, on street corners and even hanging from the trees mourning the death of dear ones, all victims of Covid-19.
At least 12 persons died of Covid-19 within a short span of 20 days, a village official said. Frightened by the continuing deaths, the residents are scared to venture out of their houses. The village has 620 houses and accounts for a huge number of Covid positive cases in the second wave. Incidentally, Kothagattu reported just one death in the first wave of the pandemic last year.
Though the exact reason for the high incidence of positive cases has not been established yet, 12 persons died between April 25 and May 15. Every day, one death was reported from May 1 to 15. Except for one, all the deceased were above the age of 60 years. Villagers, disputing the village officials figures, said about 30 people have died so far in the second wave, and more than 300 people tested positive for the virus. In every house, two to three persons are down with Covid-19, they said.
The deaths started with the demise of Ravindra Chary (48), the priest of the famous Sri Mastyagirindra Swamy temple on April 25. His son Kiran also died after six days. Though they are residents of Vennampalli, they used to spend the entire day in Kothagattu, sarpanch M Kishan Rao said.
In the wake of spurt in positive cases, the gram panchayat imposed a lockdown in the village from May 8, four days before the State-wide lockdown was clamped. People are allowed to come out from 6 am to 11 am to purchase essential commodities. Only four persons died of Covid-19 while the remaining, who were also infected by the virus, died of heart attack because of the panic situation they got into, the sarpanch said.
Koti, a resident, said the villagers are in the grip of panic following the deaths. While some people died in hospitals while undergoing treatment, others breathed their last in the village itself. People were unable to overcome the virus though they spent huge amounts on treatment in private hospitals, he said.
Koti urged the district administration to arrange special medical camp in the village and provide treatment to positive patients besides educating the people about the precautionary measures to be taken to check the virus.
Kishan Rao, however, said that besides conducting a corona test camp, the first dose of vaccine was also administered to 340 people at a special camp in the village. Some of the villagers took vaccine in Shankarapatnam, he added. About 150 villagers are suffering from fever and other symptoms which were established during the fever survey carried out recently, he informed.
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