Following reports that at least one person working in the District Collectorate has tested positive, the entire Collectorate was disinfected on Monday morning.

According to official sources, swab samples of two others working at the Collectorate have been collected and sent for analysis. They have also been quarantined.

One of the offices functioning at the Collectorate has been temporarily shut down, officials said.

Over the last 36 days, a total of 472 people have tested positive in the Nilgiris. The sudden increase came after the district witnessed no cases for more than a month, and travel was eased into and out of the Nilgiris. Moreover, the new cases are more pronounced in the villages than in the main towns.

Officials said that a majority of the infections were from two clusters – one in a private firm in Yellanalli and another which has formed after a marriage was held with more than a hundred persons attending the event in Thangadu village in Oranalli.

Over the last few days, the district administration has also reported multiple cases occurring as a result of infections spreading from people who contracted COVID-19 while travelling to Coimbatore, or from people who returned to the Nilgiris from other states.