The confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Andhra Pradesh have reached 1097 and in Prakasam district it has risen to 50. Though the state government is working towards allowing the functioning of the industrial units, the daily wage earners are still struggling to get basic essential items such as vegetables, masks, hand-wash soaps etc. due to no income. Our Smartpur Chirala team led by Project Officer Sunil Babu; Centre Coordinator Srinivas and Spoke Coordinator Koteshwar Rao through various local WhatsApp groups acted as digital warriors and distributed vegetables to around 300 families at Ambedkar Nagar in Thotavaripalem, Chirala Mandal.

They didn’t stop here and started fulfilling another important requirement to fight coronavirus i.e. distribution of handmade cloth masks and sanitizers to the frontline workers especially the Police department, MPDO, Syndicate Bank Manager and Staff, Gram Panchayat Secretaries, Gram Sachivalaya Staff, Paramedical Staff, Asha workers, Gram Panchayat Volunteers and along with locals of the village eparticularly the senior citizens and the children as they are prone to this deadly virus. The team is generating awareness on preventive measures and explained the 5 steps of handwashing to the children and how hand-sanitizers should be used. These were primarily distributed in the red zone areas and more than 150 community members have been covered. Apart from this, Koteshwar Rao has distributed almost 100 masks to the MNREGA workers as well.