Children’s home new Covid hotspot in city

Children’s home new Covid hotspot in city

Corpn Seals Facility; 35 Kids, 3 Staff Tested +ve

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:07.06.2020

Greater Chennai Corporation on Saturday sealed a children’s in Tondiarpet after 15 children tested positive for Covid-19. Nineteen children had tested positive on Thursday.

All 81 children in the home, under the social defence department, have been shifted to hospitals and various quarantine facilities.

One block in the home had 24 children — temporary inmates including those rescued from railway stations — while the other had 57 permanent inmates.

On May 30, a boy from the reception block tested positive days after developing fever. It was found he had contracted it from a caretaker who showed symptoms of the infection. Later, all the inmates including the staff were tested. Nineteen children tested positive on June 4 and another 15 including three teachers tested positive on Saturday.

One child has been isolated at the Chennai Trade Centre in Nandanam, 19 were shifted to the Communicable Diseases Hospital in Tondiarpet and 13 kids are in hospital quarantine as they showed mild symptoms but tested negative. Thirty-three other children are at Vivekananda School. The home has been converted into a quarantine facility, with a doctor regularly checking the remaining children.

A senior Tondiarpet zone official said the home was disinfected daily. “The first case was found after a surveillance worker reported that a child had symptoms. There are 11 other homes in the zone and we are checking on them every day. We have instructed the caretakers of the homes to ensure they don’t come in contact with those who go out to buy essentials.”

Sources said the children couldn’t be taken for tests to fever camps due to lack of transport and social distancing at the small home was impossible. A guard tested positive after he showed up at an Urban Primary Health Care Centre and the children at the home were tested.

Corporation commissioner G Prakash said officials had begun testing children in other homes as well as inmates of old age homes. “Since the guards and caretakers come from other areas, there is a chance of spread. We have fever surveillance workers who check on them every day and if anyone shows symptoms, we will test them,” he said.

The shelter is being disinfected daily for the past four days