After the State government made an appeal to those persons who had attended the Tablighi Jamaat conference in Nizamuddin, Delhi, but remained untraceable, to voluntarily report to the authorities on Tuesday evening, 588 people approached district officials overnight. This took the total number of persons who had come forward to 1,103.
“We used multiple methodologies. Religious leaders were contacted. We involved revenue officials and utilised police intelligence. As soon as the appeal was made, phones started buzzing, and people started coming in voluntarily overnight. Teams from the respective Collectorates brought them to the isolation facilities. Containment plans were immediately chalked out,” Health Secretary Beela Rajesh told reporters.
“The containment plan was centred around all 1,103 persons in question, and involved District Collectors demarcating a 5-km radius as a containment zone and another 2-km radius as a buffer zone to take up door-to-door checks to prevent the spread of COVID-19. This would be the focus for two days,” she added.
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In Tirupattur district, 22 persons who had attended the conference were traced and placed under hospital quarantine. Collector M.P. Sivanarul said five of them were from Tirupattur, seven from Vaniyambadi and 10 from Ambur.
The Karaikal administration sealed the house of one of the six persons from the district who had attended the meeting, after the man, in his mid-fifties, developed symptoms of COVID-19. In Tiruchi, nearly 90 persons had been admitted to the COVID-19 isolation ward at Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Government Hospital since Monday night. Nearly 30 identified persons were brought to the hospital on Monday night, while another 50 were brought in during the early hours of Tuesday, R. Yeganathan, Medical Superintendent, MGMGH, said.
In Coimbatore, the district administration, the city police and the Corporation officials were on the lookout for 11 persons who had returned to the city. Sources said the administration had identified 82 persons. It had located and quarantined over 70 of them from Mettupalayam, Anamalai, Annur and a few in the city at various hospitals. Ukkadam, Saibaba Colony (K.K. Pudur) and Podanur were declared containment zones.
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Twenty-five persons from Cuddalore district were admitted to the isolation wards at Cuddalore Government General Hospital, Rajah Muthiah Medical College and Hospital in Chidambaram and General Hospital in Vriddhachalam. Quarantine zones were set up in parts of Udhagamandalam, Coonoor and Kotagiri as the test results of eight persons from the Nilgiris who attended the Tablighi Jamaat event in Delhi were awaited.
One person, who had returned from Nizamuddin on March 23, was quarantined along with his family members in Krishnagiri.
From 13 districts at the beginning of this week, COVID-19 has spread to many more districts in the State. Tirunelveli and Coimbatore topped the list with 29 positive cases each, followed by Chennai and Erode with 26 cases each.
As on date, 77,330 persons continue to be under home quarantine, while 4,070 persons have completed the 28-day quarantine period. A total of 2,726 samples have been lifted till date. A total of 995 persons have been admitted to isolation wards, according to the bulletin issued by the Directorate of Public Health and Preventive Medicine.
More cases in Puducherry
The number of COVID-19 cases in the Union Territory has gone up to four, with one more person who returned after attending a religious conference at Nizamuddin in New Delhi testing positive for the virus.
The 54- year-old person, hailing from Thiruvandarkoil, has been admitted to the Indira Gandhi Government Medical College.