COVID-19 | Five tourists from Thailand admitted to isolation ward at Erode hospital

Precautionary measure taken after one of them had fever

As a precautionary measure against COVID-19 , five tourists from Thailand who were staying in the city were admitted to the isolation ward at Government IRT Perundurai Medical College and Hospital here on Monday night.

They were part of a seven-member group who arrived in New Delhi on a pilgrimage trip to various places in the country. Since one of their team members developed fever and is a diabetic, they decided to send him back to Thailand accompanied by one of their team member. At Coimbatore airport, while screening, he was found to have fever and was admitted to the isolation ward at Coimbatore Medical College and Hospital, where he tested negative. He told officials that he was part of the team and five members were currently staying at a dargah in the city.

At 10 p.m. on Monday, a team comprising officials from revenue, health and police visited the dargah and held inquiries. Since many visit the dargah every day, health officials pointed out that they could not stay there and needed to be kept in isolation. Later, they were taken to Perundurai and admitted to the isolation ward.

Deputy Director of Health Services S. Soundammal told

The Hindu that though no symptoms were found in them, as a precautionary measure they needed to be kept in isolation for 28 days after which they would be discharged. She said that since they had no place to stay here, they were admitted to the ward.