Tamil Nadu: Delay in Covid-19 test results raises concern in Nilgiris

UDHAGAMANDALAM: The delay in announcing test results of 51 attendees of a wedding, which was held at T. Oranalli village near Ooty on June 24, more than a week after collecting throat swabs from them have raised concerns, especially after two of the attendees were tested positive for Covid-19 after their death.
Earlier, an 85-year-old woman attendee was tested positive for the virus a week after the wedding. A resident of T. Oranalli, she is undergoing treatment in the ESI Hospital in Coimbatore.
Meanwhile, a 75-year-old man, who was a close relative of the bride, died on Saturday at Athikkal village. Dr P Balusamy, deputy director of public health, said throat swabs were collected from the man earlier and test results were awaited. If he is found to be infected, it would be the third Covid-19 death to be reported from that wedding function.
While more than 100 people had attended the event, health officials have so far traced only 51 attendees and collected samples from them for testing. Officials started tracing them after the 85-year-old woman tested positive.
Delay in test results has caused panic among the people, who say if there are positive cases among them, the chances of them infecting others are high. “It will lead to more and more cases. And this function could be the second Covid-19 cluster in the district,” said a source, requesting anonymity.
When asked about the delay, a health official, who didn’t want to be named, said, “Around 1,000 samples are sent to the ESI Hospital and CMCH in Coimbatore daily from the Nilgiris. Those hospitals also receive samples from Coimbatore and Tirupur districts. Based on the capacity of the labs, results are released.”
The Ooty government headquarters hospital has now been equipped with a lab for reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction testing for Covid-19. Nilgiris collector J Innocent Divya said, “It is mainly to avoid delay in test results. The lab has a capacity to test 150-200 samples a day.”
Meanwhile, five more people tested positive for the virus in the district on Sunday, taking its tally to 183. The district has 89 active cases now.
The new cases are from Naduvattam, Ketti, Devarsolai and Main Bazaar in Ooty. Two of them – a 40-year-old man and a 60-year-old man from Ketti area – are primary contacts of the public relations officer of the private needle manufacturing company who has infected more than 100 people in the district directly or indirectly.
Two others were tested positive in Coimbatore. One of them is a 47-year-old man from Naduvattam. He has been undergoing treatment in a hospital there for the past 10 days. The second case is a 35-year-old pregnant woman from Devarsolai who went to Coimbatore for delivery.
The remaining new case is a 22-year-old woman, who is a primary contact of an earlier case.