Health officials in Tirupur have scaled up monitoring and testing of guest workers after three of the workers, who had returned from northern states, tested positive for Covid-19 immediately after their arrival.
The health officials are keeping a close watch on other guest workers, who had travelled with the trio, and asked other passengers of the train to isolate themselves.
Guest workers from West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand and other states had started returning in sizeable numbers to Tirupur after the lockdown was lifted and garment units resumed full-fledged operations.
The detection of Covid-19 among the guest workers at a time when Tirupur has been reporting a steady fall in the daily caseload has posed a fresh challenge for the health officials. From reporting 1,000 new cases daily in June, the count had come down to 197 in Tirupur on Wednesday.
The infection among the workers of garment units could pose trouble, because most of the smaller units have dozens of people working in close quarters. Though garment units have been instructed to ensure social distancing among the workers and get them wear masks, there could be deviations which would result in a faster spread. Besides, most of the guest workers stay in small congested rooms, where the possibility of transmission to the roommates is high.
“It is also difficult for the guest workers to isolate themselves given the fact that they stay in bunches in small rooms. They cannot afford separate rooms for isolation,” said a health official.
The officials, however, have ensured that all the guest workers landing in Tirupur railway station are tested.
The team of health staff deployed at the railway station also collect the name, aadhar number and mobile phone number of the workers during the sample collection. “We try to get the result as early as possible. If someone tests positive, we plan to take the patient to hospital and send the roommates to isolation centres,” the official said.
