More positive cases in western Tamil Nadu keep health officials busy

TNN | Mar 27, 2020, 01.13 PM IST

COIMBATORE: With one third of the Covid-19 positive patients in the state identified in Coimbatore, Erode and Salem districts, health authorities are on their toes in western Tamil Nadu.

Health officials are keeping a close watch on the contacts of these patients while the district authorities are on an overdrive, working out plans to prevent spread of the virus.

The entire population in 169 households at Kollampalayam in Erode, where the two Thai nationals who tested positive stayed, are home quarantined. While shops selling essential commodities such as groceries and medicines are allowed to operate across the state, in the nine streets that the Thai nationals visited, even such shops are shut.

The Erode district administration has arranged a mobile vegetable store for the residents of the locality. The mobile store on a van would visit the streets in the morning when people can buy groceries at their doorsteps. “We have provided them a mobile ATM too,” said a health official.

Officials at the Covid-19 control room see a cluster of infected cases and high-risk contacts in Erode and Salem. The check-posts at the entry points of these districts have been sealed and movement of vehicles within has been completely stopped.

Officials began connecting the dots after two Thai nationals tested positive for the viral infection on March 21. At that time, the state sent 13 of their close contacts on quarantine and closed two mosques. But as they spoke to more contacts, they learned that a larger group of people could have been infected.

While the two Thai nationals, undergoing treatment at Perundurai hospital, are said to be stable, 15 others who came in contact with them are under hospital quarantine.

In Salem, the officials are facing a daunting challenge of identifying the people who came into contact with the five Covid-19 positive patients reported there.

Four of the five were Indonesian nationals who visited five mosques from March 11 to 22 at Ammapet, Shevapet and Kitchipalayam localities within the city. They stayed for three days in each of the mosques. Health and police officials have so far identified 150 people who visited the mosques during the days. Officials are trying to get more information from imams and CCTV cameras.

“It is difficult for us to identify and locate all those who visited the five mosques. We have requested people to come forward and identify themselves,” collector S A Raman said.

The patient in Madurai, who died of complications due to Covid-19, also visited Thai nationals at a mosque in Erode.

“We have requested authorities to list foreigners who visited the mosques in the last three weeks. If we put people at risk on quarantine, we will be able to slow down the spread,” health secretary Beela Rajesh said.