CHENNAI/TIRUVANNAMALAI: One more employee of a store in Chennai's Phoenix mall tested positive for COVID-19 on Tuesday. The 28-year-old man has been kept in the isolation ward at Tiruvannamalai Government Medical College, according to the media bulletin released by the Health and Family Welfare Department.
The bulletin mentioned that he is a coworker of a 25-year-old woman employee of the same store in the mall who tested positive for COVID-19 on March 27. She is currently undergoing treatment in Ariyalur, which is her hometown. She returned to Ariyalur on March 20 after which she developed a fever.
The test results of her colleague, a native of a village in Tiruvannamalai, on Tuesday confirmed that he is also positive for COVID-19.
"The patient contracted the virus while working in a textile showroom in Chennai, where a coworker had earlier tested positive," District Collector KS Kandasamy told The New Indian Express.
After the co-worker testing positive for the virus, other workers, including the Tiruvannamalai patient, underwent a preliminary health checkup conducted by a medical team.
The reports were sent to the workers' native districts and they were asked to observe home quarantine, Kandasamy said.
A native of Vellandhal in Tiruvannamalai, the man returned to his village on March 16 and he was under home quarantine.
He, however, developed fever and had a sore throat for three days during the quarantine period. Following the symptoms, he was admitted to the isolation treatment ward at Tiruvannamalai Government Medical College Hospital on March 28, the collector said.
His tests result turned out to be positive for the coronavirus on Tuesday.
Containment plan
Collector Kandasamy said that the patient's residence is being sprayed with disinfectants and his family members will undergo a health check-up.
A perimeter of five km from the patient's residence will be marked in the area for complete isolation so as to contain further spread, the collector said.
The perimeter mark will be manned by police teams and the families residing within the perimeter will be home quarantined and tested regularly, he said.