Sixty-eight persons, most of them from Perambalur and Ariyalur districts, tested positive for COVID-19 in the central region on Thursday.
Thirty-three patients from Perambalur, 24 from Ariyalur, two each from Karur, Pudukottai and Thanjavur districts and five patients from Tiruchi were among those who tested positive. Most patients are individuals who returned to their home towns after working at the Koyambedu market or their close contacts.
In Perambalur district, 33 patients, including a 25-year-old woman, tested positive for the infection. The patients have all been admitted to the Perambalur District Headquarters Hospital and are undergoing treatment. “All patients are asymptomatic and have nothing to worry about. A total of 24 of the 33 had travelled to Perambalur in a single lorry and had, therefore, spread the infection,” official sources here said.
On Thursday alone, samples from 83 people were collected and have been sent to the K.A.P. Viswanatham Government Medical Hospital in Tiruchi for testing. Among them were 59 people who visited the GH with cold and fever symptoms and 10 people who had travelled from Maharashtra. The patients who returned from other districts and from Chennai are all being quarantined in a school which has been turned into a quarantine facility, an official said.
Ariyalur district saw 24 people test positive for the virus increasing the total number of cases to 246, making it the district with the largest number of cases in the central region. Of the 24, 14 people returned to the district from Chennai, nine people were their immediate contacts, including family members while one person travelled from Kanchipuram. The swabs for all the patients were lifted on May 2, official sources said.
The district administration has decided to home quarantine asymptomatic patients as the numbers have seen a sharp increase, officials here said. As on Thursday, 154 patients are in-home quarantine, 60 patients have been admitted to the Ariyalur District Headquarters Hospital, 17 are at a special COVID Care Centre set up by the district administration while nine were admitted to Tiruchi GH. Swabs have been lifted for 415 more individuals and have been sent to the testing centres in Tiruvarur and Tiruchi.
Officials of the district administration have said that the lockdown would not be relaxed in the district until the number of cases reduce. People are requested to visit the nearest Primary Healthcare Centre or the District Headquarters Hospital if they suffer from cold, cough or fever, or have returned to their homes recently after travelling to other districts or states. They can also call the 1077 helpline for further assistance.
In Tiruchi, five men tested positive for the novel coronavirus. These cases have increased the total number of cases in the district to 62, of which 51 have recovered and returned home. Officials here said that over 300 people had returned to Tiruchi over the last week from other districts in the State. Samples were collected from all of them and the results of 256 were given on Thursday. Three tested positive among the 256. Meanwhile, two men hailing from Tiruchi district and residing in Salem and Karur districts also tested positive. Both are being taken care of at the respective Government Hospitals in those districts, official sources here said.
A total of 36 patients, including 11 from Tiruchi, nine from Ariyalur, 13 from Perambalur, two from Pudukottai and one patient from Karur are currently undergoing treatment at the Tiruchi Mahatma Gandhi Government Memorial Hospital.
In Karur, two persons, a 55-year-old man and a 25-year-old man, who had returned from Maharashtra earlier this week, tested positive on Thursday. They have been admitted to the Government Medical College Hospital here which is a designated COVID-19 hospital for the region.
In Pudukottai, two patients, both 32-year-old men from Viralimalai district who had returned after working at Koyambedu market tested positive. Both are asymptomatic and have been admitted to Dr. Muthulakshmi Reddy Memorial Government Headquarters Hospital in Pudukottai itself. “We have been asked not to send asymptomatic patients to Tiruchi.
They will all be treated within the district itself,” an official source here said. In Thanjavur district, a 27-year-old male tested positive for COVID-19 and is undergoing treatment at the Thanjavur Medical College Hospital.