CHENNAI: Eighty-four personnel at Raj Bhavan in the city, residence of the Tamil Nadu governor, have tested positive for Covid-19, triggering fears of a new cluster for the infection. The infected included Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and fire and rescue services personnel.
All of them were on Wednesday shifted to the quarantine ward set up on the Anna University campus. Sixty-three others from Raj Bhavan and their family members have been advised to stay under home quarantine with immediate effect. An official statement from Raj Bhavan on Thursday said: “Some people staying inside Raj Bhavan showed symptoms. Testing was done for 147 people, of whom 84 people, including paramilitary forces personnel and fire services staff, were found to have tested positive for Covid-19.” All of these people are now being monitored by the state health department, it added.
All of those who tested positive for the infection were working outside the main building. “None of them came in contact with the governor and senior officials in Raj Bhavan,” said the press release. The release added: “As a precautionary measure, the whole area of Raj Bhavan including offices has been disinfected and sanitized by Greater Chennai Corporation health authorities. Raj Bhavan is closely monitoring the situation.”
Police and state health department officials are verifying the source of the coronavirus infection. Preliminary inquiries revealed that the infection may have been come in through vegetables and fruits brought by some vendors.
A special team comprising police, health and revenue officials has collected details of all those who visited the Raj Bhavan campus over the past 15 days. A part of the team has been specifically assigned to monitor movements of people at the entry and exit gates of the high-security campus.
A police officer said the team was verifying to see if any of those visited the campus in the recent past were down with coronavirus infection through physical checks at their residences.
It is not clear from where they got it, sources said, adding that most of such personnel on the campus lived in close proximity to each other one infected person could have spread the virus many others. They added that the authorities concerned have been asked to deploy a fresh company of CRPF jawans at Raj Bhavan, but all calls by TOI to the CRPF officials on the campus to confirm this went unanswered.
All of them were on Wednesday shifted to the quarantine ward set up on the Anna University campus. Sixty-three others from Raj Bhavan and their family members have been advised to stay under home quarantine with immediate effect. An official statement from Raj Bhavan on Thursday said: “Some people staying inside Raj Bhavan showed symptoms. Testing was done for 147 people, of whom 84 people, including paramilitary forces personnel and fire services staff, were found to have tested positive for Covid-19.” All of these people are now being monitored by the state health department, it added.
All of those who tested positive for the infection were working outside the main building. “None of them came in contact with the governor and senior officials in Raj Bhavan,” said the press release. The release added: “As a precautionary measure, the whole area of Raj Bhavan including offices has been disinfected and sanitized by Greater Chennai Corporation health authorities. Raj Bhavan is closely monitoring the situation.”
Police and state health department officials are verifying the source of the coronavirus infection. Preliminary inquiries revealed that the infection may have been come in through vegetables and fruits brought by some vendors.
A special team comprising police, health and revenue officials has collected details of all those who visited the Raj Bhavan campus over the past 15 days. A part of the team has been specifically assigned to monitor movements of people at the entry and exit gates of the high-security campus.
A police officer said the team was verifying to see if any of those visited the campus in the recent past were down with coronavirus infection through physical checks at their residences.
It is not clear from where they got it, sources said, adding that most of such personnel on the campus lived in close proximity to each other one infected person could have spread the virus many others. They added that the authorities concerned have been asked to deploy a fresh company of CRPF jawans at Raj Bhavan, but all calls by TOI to the CRPF officials on the campus to confirm this went unanswered.
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