Seventeen patients, all of whom had attended Tablighi Jamaat congregation in Nizamuddin, tested positive for COVID-19 at the Tiruchi Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Government Hospital here on Saturday.
Samples of 53 patients who are under observation at the MGMGH were tested, Collector S. Sivarasu said.
“The remaining 36 have tested negative but we will keep them under observation for 14 more days. They will be sent home after another set of tests are taken and the results show negative,” he said, while addressing reporters here on Saturday evening.
Of the 125 patients currently under observation at the MGMGH, 120 belong to Tiruchi city and surrounding panchayat unions, while three hail from Karur and one from Erode and one from Thanjavur. The test results for 67 are awaited, he said.
Officials of the health department traced the residences of all 120 patients under observation, which are in 50 localities within and outside the city, and have begun checks for symptoms of COVID-19 individually.
A total of 469 doctors conducted checks for 1,13,947 individuals in 25, 586 houses. “None of them has any symptoms of COVID-19. We have asked them all to stay safe and stay indoors,” he said.
The areas where the patients who tested positive reside will be cordoned off and termed as a ‘containment area.’
“The streets will be barricaded and no person will be allowed in or out, except in emergency situations,” the Collector said.
The district administration has also requested 3,045 people, who travelled to other States and returned to Tiruchi to be kept under home quarantine.
Mr. Sivarasu said that the MGMGH has acquired special equipment to test patients’ throat swabs on Friday.
“From today onwards, test results can be given within six hours at the GH,” he added.
Perambalur
A 29-year-old man tested positive for COVID-19 on Saturday, making him the first case of the infection in the district.
The man, who has been under observation at the Government Headquarters Hospital, Perambalur, had travelled to the Tablighi Jamaat conference in New Delhi.
He returned to Perambalur and had been traced by health office and kept under observation. The patient is stable and responding well, official sources said.
