Covid-19 positive bride has her big day

Mayilvaganan.V@timesgroup.com  25.05.2020

A26-year-old woman, who tested positive for Covid-19, entered into wedlock here on Sunday.

While the woman, a Villupuram native, was working in Chennai, the groom was from Gengavalli in Salem. She had entered Salem on May 21 along with her family members through the Thalaivasal check post, where swab samples of all the 12 people were collected. Lab test revealed that the bride was Covid-19 positive.

Health officials who instructed the woman to get quarantined came to know about the wedding scheduled on Sunday. “Given the sensitivity of the situation, we gave them permission to go ahead with the wedding with strict conditions,” said a senior health officer. “She was asymptomatic and was healthy.”

The officials gave immune boosters for the entire family on Saturday morning. They were given N95 masks, hand sanitisers as well as tablets as a precautionary measure. The officials instructed the family to keep it a low-key event. “We conducted the wedding ceremony at the house of the groom,” the woman’s father told TOI. “We had fixed the wedding in January and had planned a grand ceremony. But we cancelled all the plans and kept it as simple as possible.”

Only 28 people attended the wedding, including parents of the bride and groom, close relatives and a priest. All of them wore masks.

“Families of the bride and the groom made fervent appeals. So, we allowed the wedding on humanitarian grounds,” Salem collector S A Raman said.

The union was followed by isolation for the couple. Hours after the wedding and the ceremonial feast, the couple was asked to remain in their respective houses under isolation for the next 28 days.

Health officials said that the family members will be kept under surveillance. “Swab samples will be collected from them in a few days for lab tests,” said a health official.

The woman was added to the Chennai’s Covid tally since she tested positive at the check post.

GO-AHEAD: Health officials said they understood the sensitivity of the situation and permitted the wedding