Andhra pradesh train Vijayawada Railway Station
A girl leans on a rope as she waits with other passengers to board Golconda Express at Vijayawada Railway Station in Andhra Pradesh as India Railways announces partial resumption of train services, during Unlock 1.0, in Vijayawada on Monday. Authorities in the state have started a probe into how 116 people in a single village have been infected with the coronavirus. Image Credit: ANI
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Hyderabad: A small village in the coastal belt of Andhra Pradesh has recorded as many as 116 coronavirus cases due to a super-spreader who worked both as a photographer and at a local hotel.

District authorities in East Godavari have started investigations into the case of Gollala Mamidada village near the port city of Kakinada where 116 confirmed cases have come to light till Wednesday - with more people still being tested.

District Collector D Murlidhar Reddy said that the 116 were among about 150 people who were infected directly or indirectly by the super-spreader since May 7 in the village and other nearby villages. “We are yet to trace the source from where the person was infected”, he said.

To further complicate matters, the 53-year-old photographer and hotel employee died before his test returned positive.

As more and more of his primary and secondary contacts - including his son - were found positive, authorities swung into action declaring the village and surrounding area a “red zone”. They have also set up a control room in the village which has a population of 15,000.

The photographer - who was admitted to the Government General Hospital in Kakinada on May 20 - died of complications the same day. Officials realised the gravity of the situation only after his test result came back as positive days after his death.

Officials said that the man became a super-spreader as he used to travel a lot in the surrounding villages to attend different programmes as a photographer and had even attended a mask distribution programme held by a local organisation. Moreover, he came in contact with a large number of people as an employee of a hotel in the area.

So far, officials had tested 3,571 people in Gollala Mamidada village alone and 116 were found positive.

Tests revealed that the son of the deceased was also infected and many of his friends were also quarantined as he had hosted a party for them at a local bakery.

The East Godavari district has so far recorded 300 positive cases of Coronavirus, officials said.

Andhra Pradesh has registered a total of 3,020 confirmed cases so far including 180 on Wednesday alone. The state has recorded 68 deaths so far.