Even as the district’s COVID-19 infection tally crossed 400 again for the second consecutive day on Thursday, an upgraded primary health centre near here and the administrative office of VOC Port in Thoothukudi have been closed after the staff tested positive for the viral infection.
When a pregnant lady, who was admitted in the upgraded PHC in Kallur a couple of days ago for delivery, tested positive for COVID-19 on Wednesday, 25 persons including her mother, doctors and nurses who attended the woman at the PHC, were identified during ‘contact tracing’. Subsequently, two doctors, as many nurses and the woman’s mother tested positive for the viral infection.
Consequently, the PHC was closed on Thursday for disinfection after shifting the in-patients to other PHCs and the Tirunelveli Medical College Hospital. However, the out-patient section is functioning from another building even as an ambulance has been kept ready for rushing the ‘emergency cases’ to TVMCH, a senior official attached to the Department of Health Services, said.
Tirunelveli district’s infection tally crossed 400 for the second consecutive day as 449 new cases were reported even as 2,779 active cases are undergoing treatment in the hospitals and in home quarantine.
After four members of a family at Anbu Nagar in Palayamkottai tested positive for the viral infection but remained asymptomatic, they were allowed to get treatment even while in home quarantine. “Since the quarantined persons have removed the barricade put by the corporation personnel in front of their house to go out for shopping nearby, we’re panicked. They should be shifted to the hospitals for treatment since they have violated home quarantine norms,” a few residents of Anbu Nagar said.
Office closed
The Administrative Office of VOC Port, Thoothukudi was closed on Thursday after 20 of its staff tested positive for COVID-19. The office will be opened again on April 26 after due disinfection, sources in the Port said.
On Thursday, Thoothukudi recorded 354 cases, Kanniyakumari had 220 cases and Tenkasi reported 281 new cases.