Kulithalai native is 67th Covid-19 patient in TN

TNN | Mar 31, 2020, 04.16 AM IST

Trichy: A 42-year-old man from Kulithalai in Karur district has tested positive for Covid-19 on Monday. He is the 67th patient to test positive in Tamil Nadu.

The patient, a native of Kulithalai and with a recent travel history to Delhi, is a resident of Chengalpet district. He came to Kulithalai on March 24 to meet his mother and elder brother. He developed symptoms the very next day and approached the primary health centre and was shifted to Karur medical college hospital on March 26, where he is stable and under observation in the isolation ward.

There are currently four patients under observation in the isolation ward of the Karur medical college hospital, who are awaiting test results.

Speaking to TOI, Karur collector T Anbalagan said the patient did not travel abroad in recent months. “There is no clear-cut evidence of community transmission so far. We believe that it might be stage 2 transmission during his travel from New Delhi,” he said.

“Whether the transmission took place in New Delhi or on the flight is yet to be ascertained. He started from Chennai to Delhi on March 18 and reached on March 20. He stayed there for three days and on March 24 he took an early morning flight to Chennai and came to Kulithalai in the evening,” said the collector.

Soon after the patient was tested positive, revenue officials along with department of public health and preventive medicine swung into action in Kulithalai. “The whole area including the specific street where the patient was residing was disinfected along with adjoining areas,” said a senior revenue official from Kulithai.

We have started the containment exercise and we are also searching for people who came in close contact with the patient, said the official. “We are trying to trace contacts so that community transmission can be prevented,” added the official.