Tamil Nadu's COVID-19 count went up to 485 on Saturday with another 74 persons — 73 of them connected to the Tablighi Jamaat conference at Nizamuddin, Delhi — testing positive.
While 73 cases include those who had travelled to Delhi and their primary contacts, the remaining person is a man from Chennai.
Of the 73 persons, four were contacts of those who had travelled to Delhi and tested positive. A woman from Chennai, a woman and a man from Namakkal and a woman from Theni — all contacts — have tested positive.
The other patients — all participants in the conference — were from the following districts: 18 from Ranipet, 17 from Tiruchi, 10 from Tiruvallur, five from Chennai, three from Cuddalore, two each from Kallakurichi, Karur, Madurai, Tiruppur and Vellore, and one each from Namakkal, Perambalur, Salem, Theni, Tirunelveli and Villupuram.
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With this, the number of persons who have tested positive for COVID-19 with a single source of infection (the Nizamuddin conference) has increased from 364 to 437.
Of the 1,200 persons who attended the conference from Tamil Nadu and have been traced, samples were lifted from 1,097. Details on the exact number of persons who attended the conference and tracked would be provided soon, Health Secretary Beela Rajesh said.
She added that samples were lifted from another 43 patients with Severe Acute Respiratory Infection (SARI). “We are closely monitoring all SARI patients. We will come up with guidelines in a day or two on testing,” she said.
Study to be taken up
With the emergence of a large cluster of COVID-19 cases from one source, the Health department has roped in the National Institute of Epidemiology in the city to take up an epidemiological study immediately. The institute has 48 community health epidemiology post graduates who are involved in the study, Dr. Rajesh said. “We have got a large number of cases from a single source. The study will look at how the disease is spreading,” she explained.
On the ongoing containment plans, she said so far, a population of 29,63,623 and 7,23,491 households had been surveyed. A total of 11,270 field workers were engaged in the containment plan.
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As on date, Chennai had the most number of COVID-19 patients — 88. Dindigul, with 43 patients, came next, followed by Tirunelveli and Erode with 37 and 32 patients, respectively. Thirty-one districts had COVID-19 patients, according to details in the bulletin issued by the Directorate of Public Health and Preventive Medicine.
A total of 1,681 persons were admitted to isolation wards of hospitals in the State. Another 102 passengers from highly affected countries were in quarantine facilities. A total of 90,541 persons were under home quarantine. Of the total 4,248 samples tested till date, 407 were under process. Eight COVID-19 patients have been discharged so far.
