The number of people from Maharashtra who tested positive for COVID-19 witnessed a sharp increase in southern districts on Sunday. According to State government’s medical bulletin, people who arrived from other States were retained in isolation centres at different check posts by health department officials.
Reports revealed that Tirunelveli and Thoothukudi districts recorded 14 fresh positive cases each, Madurai 13, Sivaganga and Virudhunagar 4 each and Tenkasi 3 on Sunday.
According to Deputy Director (Health) in Tenkasi Raja, the fresh cases were reported in a single family and two among them were from Vendrilingapuram and one from Sernthamaram.
Sivaganga district, where the number of positive cases was 12 for over 15 days, suddenly witnessed a rise after about 50 people from the district returned from Maharashtra. The number of positive cases rose to 26.
In Madurai, 13 people, including three migrants, tested positive, taking the toll to 160.
Two of the migrants have returned from Mumbai and one migrant has returned from Bengaluru. Four persons who have returned from Chennai tested positive. A frontline worker at Government Rajaji Hospital (GRH) also tested positive.
According to Collector T.G. Vinay, the migrants were stopped at various check posts and quarantined at Madurai Kamaraj University and Meenakshi Nursing College.
People who tested positive in Madurai came from cluster areas – Sellur and Elumalai. They also included people from Vandiyur, Karisalkulam, Villangudi, Avaniyapuram and Karungalakudi.
A total of 19 people were discharged from the GRH on Sunday.
Four persons who returned from Maharastra to Virudhunagar district tested positive. With this, the total number of positive cases in the district has risen to 51. Sixteen of them are active cases. Thirty five persons have been discharged from the GRH, Madurai.
Meanwhile, Virudhunagar Collector R. Kannan and other officials saw off 479 migrant workers from Virudhunagar and Sivaganga districts to Bihar on a special train at Virudhunagar railway station.
The train that came from Nagercoil had seats reserved for the migrant workers from these two districts. While 294 were from Virudhunagar district, 185 were from Sivaganga. This is the first round of migrant workers being moved from Virudhunagar district through special train.
Fireworks, match and printing units and hotels in the district have attracted the workers in large numbers. Besides, a good number of workers from other States were involved in the construction of Virudhunagar Medical College building.
