T.N. records third coronavirus case

39 persons under hospital quarantine in State

20/03/2020, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT,CHENNAI

C. VijayabaskarB_JOTHI RAMALINGAM

A third person has tested positive for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Tamil Nadu. The patient, a 21-year-old student who had returned from Dublin, tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday after having been admitted to the isolation ward at the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital (RGGGH).

Health Minister C. Vijayabaskar said the student arrived in Chennai on March 17 and underwent screening, following which he was placed under home quarantine.

He developed symptoms on March 18 and reported himself to RGGGH. He was admitted to the isolation ward, and his nasal and throat swabs were taken for testing. The samples returned positive for COVID-19 on Thursday.

The Minister tweeted that the patient’s condition was stable. On Wednesday, a 20-year-old, who had travelled from Delhi to Chennai, tested positive for COVID-19, and is currently undergoing treatment at RGGGH. Ten close contacts of the youth were identified, and the Health Department is in the process of tracking down all those with whom the youth had come into contact.

The Minister maintained that there was no community transmission of COVID-19 in the State.

“If any passenger travelling from an affected country arrives at the airport with symptoms, he/she is shifted to the isolation ward in a dedicated ambulance. If the passenger does not have symptoms, we quarantine them at the Institute of Public Health in Poonamallee, considering that they could be carriers,” he told reporters after inspecting the Government Stanley Medical College Hospital. The hospital has 31 beds in the isolation ward and a fever clinic. Efforts are on to establish a testing facility there.

As per the bulletin issued by the Directorate of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, a total of 39 persons were in isolation wards in government medical college hospitals and 3,481 persons were under home quarantine. At 1,135, Chennai has the highest number of those under quarantine.