Saravana Stores outlet in Chennai shut after 39 employees in dorm test positive for COVID-19

CHENNAI: A total of 39 workers at Saravana Stores in Chennai’s Purasawalkam have tested positive for COVID-19.

The home appliance store at Kariappa Street has been closed and the road has been marked as a containment zone with barricades placed at both ends. Officials said the cases were from the dormitory of the store but since both are in the same building, the store also has been shut.

Corporation officials said that of the 166 swabs taken on Friday, 13 tested positive, while of the 159 swabs taken on Saturday, 26 tested positive.

“All the employees are youngsters. Some have been admitted at the Communicable Diseases Hospital and some are in home isolation. They are asymptomatic and we are monitoring them,” said a corporation official.

Officials said all the residents in the road will also be tested and they have been advised to stay in their homes.

Officials said they were not able to identify the source of the infection and tested all contacts. “Since the spread is everywhere, they also have got it. None of them have any travel history,” said an official.

Apart from this, 12 employees at Madhar Sha, a popular garment company in Purasaivakkam, had tested positive for COVID-19 last week. The employees are asymptomatic and recovering, officials said.