Twenty persons have tested positive for COVID-19 in and around Varadhammal Garden Street in the Kilpauk area, following a religious function organised in the locality earlier this month. More 300 people reportedly took part in the function.
The Greater Chennai Corporation, which identified the cluster a few days ago, has initiated containment measures, including tracking and testing of all the people and their contacts who took part in the function.
Sharanya Ari, Regional Deputy Commissioner (Central) of the GCC, who visited the area on Wednesday, said that around 320 samples had been collected so far for RT-PCR tests. She said that the GCC became alert when one of the organisers of the function tested positive a few days ago.
“We immediately began tracing and testing all the people who took part in the function and their contacts,” she said. Testing of the same group would be done again in two or three days to detect any persons getting infected after a delay.
Although the condition of all the 20 was stable, she said they had been taken to hospitals and not allowed to quarantine at home to avoid the risk of further infection to others.
Barricades had been kept in the area with banners showing the prevalence of COVID-19 in the locality. However, officials said that stringent restriction of movement had not been enforced as a large number of people who were not found to be contacts during tracing had to commute to work and other essential needs.
Highlighting that none of the 20 persons who tested positive had taken a single dose of vaccine, Ms. Ari said that many in the area were found to be unvaccinated. She said a special vaccination camp would be organised in the locality shortly.
Meanwhile, the GCC on Wednesday said that stringent action under Section 188 of the Indian Penal Code and the Disaster Management Act would be taken against those violating COVID-19 restrictions. A statement issued by the civic body said that an explanation had been sought from those who organised the function in Varadhammal Garden Street.
Reiterating that organising religious or other functions in public places were prohibited, the release stressed that only 50 people were allowed for marriages. Masking, sanitising and other COVID-19 appropriate behaviour must be followed.
Inspection of halls
The GCC officials have inspected 2,812 wedding halls and restaurants and violations were found in 60 places and a fine of ₹2.29 lakh had been imposed. Since May 2021, a fine of ₹3.7 crore had been imposed on individuals and organisations violating the COVID-19 lockdown restrictions.
