Koyambedu yet to make impact in Coimbatore

COIMBATORE: Koyambedu hasn’t made an impact on the district’s Covid-19 infection rate so far and all the 40 drivers, who have been to the wholesale fruit and vegetable market in Chennai, have tested negative for the virus. This is when drivers who have returned to almost all the other districts in the state from Koyambedu market have tested positive for the novel coronavirus.
The district hasn’t also reported any new positive cases in the past six days. The district is, however, treading carefully and have kept all the 40 drivers in quarantine for the next 14 days.
The special team that is deputed to the district has, meanwhile, instructed the health department to stick to the guidelines that were issued by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and test only the contacts of positive cases, pregnant women (a week before delivery), and those with influenza like illness and breathlessness, and not waste time on testing randomly chosen asymptomatic people in the community.
The credit for tracing the truck drivers, who regularly drives to Koyambedu, in the district goes to the health department, which has been on that mission since Monday. As the drivers linked to Koyambedu market started testing positive for Covid-19 in other districts, health officials didn’t waste any time in tracing such drivers from the district and putting them in quarantine facilities. They have also tested a few truck drivers and others who have returned from Maharashtra.
Dr G Ramesh Kumar, deputy director of public health, said, “We had collected samples from 225 people on Friday. At least 172 of them, including the truck drivers from Koyambedu and outside the state, have tested negative so far. None of the drivers have any symptoms. Even if they were to test positive in the coming days, we have quarantined them, limiting their contacts.”
He said at least 175 samples were collected by private and government hospitals from patients with flu-like symptoms, pregnant women coming for delivery and patients with breathlessness. “Such cases are also testing negative for the contagion. We are following the ICMR’s latest guidelines.”
A senior city corporation official confirmed that the special team, consisting of IAS officers and district revenue officers, have asked them to trace only the positive patients’ contacts and patients coming to hospitals with symptoms. “They have asked us to stop wasting time and kits on testing randomly chosen asymptomatic individuals in the community,” the official said.
The city corporation is still screening vulnerable people in containment zones and Amma Unavagam employees, since the eateries have been open since the beginning of lockdown.