Following a family of four testing positive for COVID-19 in R.S. Puram, the Coimbatore Corporation has intensified disinfection drive in the area. It has also begun collecting swab samples from as many people as possible in the affected family’s neighbourhood.
According to sources, the Corporation had on Sunday completed lifting swab samples from person who lived in the apartment that housed the affected family’s flat in R.S. Puram. On Monday, the Corporation had expanded the swab sample collection exercise to the street housing the apartment and also a couple of streets to assess the extent of community transmission, if any.
Simultaneously, the Corporation was also engaged in large scale swab sample collection from across the city. The objective was to collect 500 such samples a day from people who reported symptoms of influenza like infection or severe acute respiratory infection.
The Corporation was engaged in the sample collection exercise with support from the Directorate of Public Health. The analysis of the samples would be either at the Coimbatore Medical College Hospital or the private lab authorised by the State Government.
On Monday, the Corporation officials took action against a few shop owners in Flower Market by seizing goods as they found them running shops on the roadside. The owners had placed curtains in front to conceal their selling flowers, the officials said and added that they seized the flowers and other goods before asking them to shut shop.
On Monday, the number of cases in Corporation limits went up by five as new cases were reported in Kovaipudur, Coimbatore Medical College’s PG Hostel and Kothari Nagar.