A resident of one of the 17 tribal settlements in the Anamalai Tiger Reserve (ATR) in Udumalpet, Tiruppur, has tested positive for COVID-19, officials from the Forest and Health Departments confirmed on Tuesday.
According to Forest officials, the patient is a 31-year-old woman and a resident of the Kulipatti tribal settlement, who recently gave birth to a baby girl. She was admitted for delivery at the Udumalpet Government Hospital, and tested positive for COVID-19 on Monday.
For nearly two weeks before her delivery, she was staying in a farmhouse outside the ATR limits in Chinnabomman Salai village, where her husband is employed as a labourer. The arrangement was made since reaching the hospital from the remote tribal settlement is difficult. With no other confirmed COVID-19 cases in the 17 settlements so far, and with outsiders not being permitted to enter them amid the lockdown, it is likely that the woman contracted the infection after she left the settlement, officials said.
Arockiaraj Xavier, Deputy Field Director of ATR and in-charge of the Tiruppur Forest Division, said a special camp for lifting swabs from Kulipatti residents for COVID-19 testing was held on Wednesday. Denying rumours about the spread of COVID-19 in the tribal settlements, he said arrangements would soon be made to lift samples of residents of all settlements.
An official from Udumalpet said both the woman and the infant were stable at the government hospital. He said many residents from tribal settlements were hesitant to get tested for COVID-19 during previous camps held in ATR by the Health Department. Regarding the special camp in the Kulipatti settlement on Wednesday, the official said the medical team would lift swabs of those who were in close contact with the patient and others, with their consent.
