Several localities, including Melapalayam, Kodeeswaran Nagar and Kalakkad in the district, have been cordoned off after 29 residents tested positive for COVID–19.
Twenty-eight of them had attended a religious congregation in Delhi recently,
Disinfection operation started in the areas soon after the residents tested positive on Tuesday night. The exercise continued on Thursday.
While conservancy workers from Tirunelveli Corporation are engaged in disinfecting Melapalayam, teams have been set up to visit every house in the cordoned localities to check if residents have any health issues, especially, cough, cold and fever.
Led by an Additional Deputy Commissioner, a team comprising three Assistant Commissioners, five Inspectors of Police and around 100 policemen has been deployed in and around Melapalayam to ensure complete lockdown.
Sixteen of the area residents, who tested positive for COVID–19, are undergoing treatment at Tirunelveli Medical College Hospital.
“Since the residents did not take the lockdown seriously and moved around casually, heavy police deployment is now necessary to make them follow the prohibitory order,” said a senior police officer.
Similar exercises are under way in Kodeeswaran Nagar and Kalakkad, where outsiders are not allowed to enter and the movement of residents totally curtailed. In Kalakkad.
‘Friends of Police’ volunteers have been fielded to assist police and health workers.
Recreation club sealed
In Thoothukudi district, disinfection of Kaayalpattinam and Petmanagar continued on Thursday. The Indian Officers’ Club on T.R. Naidu Street in Thoothukudi was sealed by revenue officials after members continued to gather on the premises even during the day defying the lockdown.
The move came after residents of the street alerted Collector Sandeep Nanduri, who immediately rushed Thoothukudi tahsildar Selvakumar to the spot.
As the revenue officials entered the club along with the police, the members left and it was sealed. The club manager, Elango, security guard Karuppasamy and staff, Ravichandran and Antony, were arrested. Two bikes and two bicycles parked on the premises were seized.
Thoothukudi Central Police registered a case against the club.
