With the number of COVID-19 positive patients increasing, there are several rumours, too, on social media regarding testing, facilities available, etc. The officials clarified to The Hindu on some of these.
A senior official from the district administration said that around 3,000 swab samples were being collected and tested every day in Tiruppur. The samples are collected at all government hospitals and primary health centres in the district. No private laboratories are conducting COVID-19 tests in Tiruppur district.
If a person tests positive for COVID-19, it is mandatory that their family members must also be tested as per the State government protocol, the official noted.
According to an official at Tiruppur Corporation, tin sheets are no longer used as barricades for houses with COVID-19 positive patients. “Earlier, we were barricading only those houses that had three or more positive cases, but now there are no such houses (in Corporation limits),” he said. He also dismissed rumours that the public were allegedly being forced to pay money for barricading entrance of houses with tin sheets as the Corporation used its own funds to erect the barricades.
The district administration official said that no complaints were received, so far, regarding local bodies or private hospitals allegedly mobilising more persons for testing or regarding private hospitals enquiring the salary details of COVID-19 patients before admission. However, the officials are maintaining vigil to prevent any such irregularities, he said.
