Three more persons tested positive for COVID-19 in the district, taking the total number of cases in the district to nine. All the three new positive cases are from Kallakurichi town.
A senior official said the three persons, including a couple and man in his sixties, had a travel history to Puttaparthi in Andhra Pradesh. The trio were volunteers of a Seva Trust and had returned to Salem recently, along with few others.
Officials in Salem alerted the district administration of their travel history. Though none of them showed any symptoms, COVID-19 tests were conducted and all the three tested positive on Tuesday. They have been shifted to the isolation ward in Villupuram Government Medical College and Hospital (VGMCH) at Mundiyambakkam.
District Collector Kiran Gurrala said that a containment plan was being readied and the tracing of contacts of the three patients had begun.
Heath teams will trace the movement of the patients including the places they visited, modes of transport used and persons they came in contact with after their return to Kallakurichi on April 23.
Health and sanitation teams will be blocking all roads leading to the area. Additional measures are being taken by spraying disinfectants at the residential area.
Mr. Gurrala said that as many as six persons are under isolation at Kallakurichi Government Hospital and VGMCH. Till April 27, as many as three persons have been discharged while 117 persons are under quarantine in various centres in the district.