The death of two persons who tested positive for COVID-19 within a span of 10 days has revived memories of the pandemic and sparked concern among the public. However, health officials have maintained that sporadic infections are to be expected and there is no cause for alarm.

The two patients, one from Rajampeta in Annamayya district and the other from Kadapa, had no recent travel history except visits to nearby villages.

Kadapa District Medical and Health Officer Ravi Babu said the 43-year-old patient from Kadapa was admitted to the Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS), Kadapa, with bilateral pneumonia, fever and breathlessness.

As his condition failed to improve after five days of treatment, doctors conducted a COVID-19 test in accordance with the protocol for patients with Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). He died on July 7.

The district administration traced 28 contacts of the patient and tested them. In both the districts, eight were found to be positive. All are asymptomatic, stable and under home isolation.

Residents in the locality where the case was reported have been advised to wear masks and follow hand hygiene.

In the Rajampeta case, the 52-year-old patient had been admitted to the Christian Medical College (CMC), Vellore, with a lung infection and bilateral kidney disease. He was also diabetic and hypertensive. He died on June 28.

Following the two deaths, the State Health Department constituted a Rapid Response Team to gather more information on the cases and set up a COVID-19 control room.

A senior offiical from the Health Department said Superintendents of all Government General Hospitals had been instructed to earmark 10-bed isolation wards. Hospitals have also been directed to keep RT-PCR test kits, Remdesivir, personal protective equipment (PPE) and N95 masks ready as a precautionary measure.

“We had understood during the pandemic itself that the virus is here to stay and that sporadic cases would continue to occur. These two infections came to light only because the patients’ conditions deteriorated and they died. Otherwise, we may not have detected them,” the official said.

He reiterated that there was no need for panic. Wearing masks has been left to individual discretion and no travel restrictions have been imposed, he said.

The Health Department is awaiting genome sequencing reports to identify the variant involved in the two cases.