Twenty persons, including 19 workers who returned from Chennai on April 30 and a four-year-old boy, tested positive for COVID-19 in the central region on Saturday. No positive cases were reported from any of the other districts in the region.
All 19 men had been working at Koyambedu market in Chennai and returned to their hometown on goods lorries after it was closed for retail vendors.
Among the workers, 18 hailed from Ariyalur district, while one belonged to Sillakudi, a border town between Perambalur and Ariyalur.
The four-year-old boy was identified as the son of a man, who returned from Chennai on April 27 and tested positive in Perambalur on Thursday.
The addition of new cases reported on Saturday increased the total number of positive cases in Ariyalur to 26 and in Perambalur to 11.
Samples for all 20 patients were collected at Ariyalur Government Headquarters Hospital and at Kulumur Primary Healthcare Centre on Thursday. The results came out from K.A.P. Viswanatham Government Medical College in Tiruchi on Saturday morning.
Ariyalur Collector D. Rathna told The Hindu that seven patients, including the four-year-old boy, a man aged over 50 years and five others with pre-existing ailments such as blood pressure and diabetes, were sent to Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Government Hospital in Tiruchi, while the remaining 13 persons, who were asymptomatic, were admitted to Ariyalur Government Hospital and were being monitored.
“Besides these patients, we have collected samples from those who returned to the district on Saturday morning and their families. They have been quarantined at one of our facilities until the results arrive,” she said.
A total of 222 samples — 55 lifted at Ariyalur Government Hospital and 167 at various primary health centres in the district — had been sent to Tiruchi for testing. A total of 71 patients were put in quarantine facilities on Saturday.
The government hospital had a 300-bed isolation ward ready to admit patients, while five school and college campuses had been converted into quarantine centres. “The district can hold up to 17,000 people in the quarantine facilities," Ms. Rathna said.
The Collector also announced enforcement of total lockdown in the district on Sunday. All shops, including vegetable markets, would remain closed. “Only hospitals, medical stores and shops selling milk will be open,” official sources said.
In Perambalur, health officials lifted throat swab samples from 50 people, including 48 employees of a local State Bank of India branch, after an employee complained of cold and fever symptoms.
“We received information that the patient, a woman, was suffering from fever and throat pain and resting at home. We have lifted samples from the woman, her two family members and 48 bank staff,” R. Geetha Rani, Deputy Director of Health Services, Perambalur, said.
The bank branch, which was sanitised and sealed, would be opened depending upon the test results for all employees, she added.