Virudhunagar district crosses 5,000 Covid cases

Virudhunagar district crosses 5,000 Covid cases

Padmini.Sivarajah@timesgroup.com

Virudhunagar:  25.07.2020

Virudhunagar district crossed the 5,000 mark in Covid-19 cases on Friday with an addition of 424 fresh ones, recording over 1,600 in the last four days. The spurt in cases has caused concern in the industrialised district as thousands of people work in close quarters in the fireworks and matchwork factories. In all, 207 of the 480 fresh cases on Thursday were from Sivakasi, the fireworks hub.

While it took 102 days for Virudhunagar to report the 1000th case, it had taken only two days to add the last 1,000 cases. However 2,947 people have been discharged after recovery while 2,203 are undergoing treatment. Positivity rate on Thursday and Friday is close to 29% with results coming for nearly 1,500 samples a day. Virudhunagar, Sivakasi, Rajapalayam and Aruppukottai towns and the villages around them remain the hotspots. President of the Tamil Nadu Fireworks and Amorces Manufacturers’ Association (TANFAMA) P Ganesan said that about 30 to 40 of the 1,070 factories had been closed in Sivakasi, after some of their workers tested positive.

The spike in cases witnessed since last week has been ascribed to the increased testing. The daily testing capacity of the district was only 1,000 samples till last week, done at three labs, which has been increased to 2,500 from Monday.

“We have a backlog of over 9,000 samples at laboratories across the state including 3,500 in Chennai. We increased sample collection to 3,000 today (Friday) and will scale it up to 3,500 a day from tomorrow (Saturday),” Virudhunagar collector R Kannan said. Government and private laboratories in Madurai and Theni are expected to help the district clear the backlog.

The collector said that the spread of the virus has not affected the functioning of industrial units. Firework units were instructed to maintain social distancing and make facilities for a doctor to be available in the vicinity among other safety measures.

“We have warned to cancel the licence of buses as well as units that bring more than 30 employees,” he added. The fireworks factories which closed down due to the lockdown reopened on May 7 and all 1,070 started functioning. On normal days, social distancing is a question in these units as workers work within closed quarters in tiny sheds. Though the number of workers has come down, there still are about 2 lakh now. Another two lakh people are employed indirectly as they work from their homes and supply wicks and cases to the industries.

Matchwork industry is another one that provides largescale employment in and around Sivakasi and Arupukottai, and the printing industry. They were allowed to start functioning with 50% strength. Contacts of some working in fireworks units had tested positive.

207 of the 480 fresh cases on Thursday were from the fire works hub of Sivakasi.