Respite from corona as Agra sizzles at 45 degrees

As Agra sizzled at 45 degrees Celsius on Friday, there was a slight respite on the COVID-19 front. With six new cases, the total count stood at 843. Two deaths were reported from the rural areas, taking the toll from COVID-19 to 30.

However, the number of recovered was 707. Now only 105 cases remain active. Health officials speculated the rising mercury was helping containment of the virus in the open.

People too, have learnt a lot during sixty days of the lockdown, medical activists said. More people were using masks and were maintaining social distancing, a senior medical practitioner observed.

Interestingly, the number of senior citizens out in the open, in parks or in public places is negligible. My family members were not letting me stir out of the house, commented insurance agent Sudheer Gupta, of Vijay Nagar colony.

The district administration has formed many teams using battery operated rikshaws, to move around the city, in congested streets, to blare out health related messages. Every morning scores of Corona warriors drive through market places on two wheelers with hooters and sirens, to sensitise people.

The Rapid Action teams of the police have been deployed in all sensitive are as, ahead of the Eid. Though the maulvis and maulanas have been appealing to the faithfuls to pray at home, and not to come out on the streets or throng mosques, the city administration is not taking chances.

Meanwhile, more than 500 inmates of the two jails have been screened so far,  including 28 Kashmiris. Scores of suspected cases continue to remain isolated or in quarantine.

The UP Roadways officials said on Saturday that the number of migrant workers has been drastically reduced after more than 80 percent were transported to their destinations in the past few days. A few hundred still wait for their turn at the bus terminal.