In a move to contain the spread of COVID-19, the Tiruchi Corporation has declared wards 16, 17 and 18 of Srirangam, encompassing the city’s main bazaar area, as a containment zone. All shops, except those selling essential commodities, are to be closed for 14 days in the three wards.
The civic body began cordoning off the area, erecting barricades at all the entrances to the market, and the surrounding residential areas in the three wards of Srirangam zone on Friday afternoon. The shops in the bazaar, and the surrounding residential area will be closed for a period of 14 days, S. Sivasubramanian, City Corporation Commissioner told The Hindu .
“This zone has seen a sudden spike in cases over the last 10 days. If we ignore it now, it might become another Koyambedu market-like situation,” he said. A total of 56 active cases have so far been reported from this area.
A senior official of the civic body said that the following streets- NSB Road, all entry points to the bazaar areas from West Boulevard Road, Singarathope, Small Kamala Street, Big Kamala Street, the entire Big Bazaar Street beginning from Chinna Kadai Street to Gandhi Market Arch, Big Chetti Street, Vellai Vethalai Street, Kalla Street, Pulikara Street, Sandhukadai Street, Sunnambukara Street, Kiledhar Street, Boologanathar Kovil Street, Jaffersha Street and Nadu Guzilli Street will be inaccessible for visitors.
As many as 30 entry points are being barricaded, he said.
Although the areas will be closed for a period of 14 days, a review will be conducted after a week, Mr. Sivasubramanian said.
“If there are no new cases at all, then a decision on its reopening will be made,” he said.
The move was initiated by the district administration and the city corporation in consultation with the Tiruchi city police, he added.
Mr. Sivasubramanian assured that small grocery shops, milk vendors and other essential services including pharmacies would be allowed to open.
Two large retail outlets on NSB Road had employees testing positive, with as many as 580 people from a single shop being placed under home quarantine only a few days ago.
Sources said that an employee of a leading textile outlet contracted the virus from a friend who had been working in a nearby jewellery-cum-utensil showroom. Both shops remain closed. Officials of the health department and the revenue department have been asked to monitor the 580 employees.
“NSB Road, one of the busiest localities in the city, is frequented by shoppers of all age groups, when people in this area have already tested positive, it is important to monitor the spread,” a senior official of the civic body said.
Mr. Sivasubramanian said that random sampling in the region, which is already under way, will be scaled up. “We will check all the residents for fever symptoms on a daily basis. Those showing symptoms will be tested immediately,” he said.
Meanwhile, two junior assistants of the Tiruchi City Corporation and three women of a Self-Help Group who manage the Amma Unavagam adjacent to the K. Abishekapuram zonal office near the Tiruchi Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Government Hospital tested positive for COVID-19 on Friday.
While the junior assistants both suffered from fever and cold symptoms, the women had attended a funeral of a common contact, from where they contracted the infection, official sources said.
The ground floor of the Tiruchi Corporation head office, on Bharathidasan Salai was sealed and sanitised following the admission of the two junior assistants to the Tiruchi MGMGH for treatment.
