1,179 villages in Maharashtra's Nanded district Covid-free

Out of the total 1,604 villages in Nanded district of Maharashtra, as many as 1,179 have become coronavirus-free, while 271 others have not reported even a single infection case during the second wave of the pandemic, an official said.

Nanded district has so far recorded over 90,000 coronavirus positive cases and more than 1,800 people have died due to the viral infection till now.

The district has 1,604 villages across 16 tehsils. Of these, 1,179 villages have become Covid-19-free and as on June 4 there is not a single positive case there, the district official said.

Apart from them, 271 villages remained untouched by the pandemic during its second wave, the official added.

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Nanded Zilla Parishad's CEO Varsha Thakur attributed this encouraging scenario to teamwork.

"The village gram panchayats, panchayat samitis, members of the ZP, anganwadi workers, health department staff of the district administration and ZP worked together to break the chain of the virus. The villagers contributed by following the protocols," she said.

"However, the pandemic is not over yet and the villagers should be more alert," she added.

Seventy-seven of the 271 villages in the district that did not report even a single case are from the tribal-dominated Kinwat tehsil.

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"This tesil is surrounded by Yavatmal district in Maharashtra and Adilabad district in neighbouring Telangana state, which witnessed a spike in cases during the second wave," another official told PTI.

Apart from Kinwat, 42 villages from Hadgaon, 39 from Kandhar, 22 from Loha, 16 from Bhokar, 17 from Mahur, 15 from Mudkhed, 12 from Nanded, nine from Himayatnagar, seven from Degloor, four each from Ardhapur, Dharmabad, Umri, two from Mukhed and one from Biloli are away from the infection, the official said.

Then there are villages that have set examples in terms of vaccination and treating the patients at the local level.

Shelgaon village in Naygaon tehsil has achieved the target of 100 per cent vaccination, while Bhosi village in Bhokar taluka treated patients in the village itself, the official said.