The last rites of a migrant worker were performed on the outskirts of his native village in Andhra Pradesh's Chittoor district after he died, reportedly of exhaustion, as he walked around 100 km from Bengaluru to reach home earlier this week.

26-year-old Hari Prasad was a native of Mittapalle village in Ramasamudram mandal and had migrated to Bengaluru to do odd jobs. With the lockdown announced and no means of livelihood available, he began walking to his native village and reached on Monday.

However, within a day he fell sick and collapsed after which he was rushed to a local hospital where he passed away on Tuesday. The incident came to light on Thursday as locals in the village did not allow his family to bring back the body over fears of the coronavirus.

Medical officials were informed about the incident and they rushed to the village from Punganur on Wednesday and collected swab samples from the dead body, which tested negative.

Following this, locals allowed the family to conduct Hari Prasad's last rites on the outskirts of the village.

The Ministry of Home Affairs on Wednesday issued a fresh set of guidelines to let migrant workers, students, tourists and pilgrims stranded in different parts of the country to get back home.

The inter-state movement of these stranded people will be facilitated by the state governments by road only, the order stated. Anyone willing to be transported back home will have to be medically screened at the source as well as destination and will be kept in a home or institutional quarantine on arrival, the home ministry guidelines said.

Andhra Pradesh has reported 1,403 COVID-19 cases so far, with 71 new cases reported on Thursday. The death toll remains at 31, with no further casualties reported over the last few days in the state.

With 321 persons cured and discharged from various hospitals till date, the number of active cases in the state is 1,051. Vizianagaram district remains the only district in the state to remain untouched by the virus.

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