Vellore district was put on high alert on Saturday after a 49-year-old man admitted in the isolation ward of a private hospital tested positive. The patient recently returned from the U.K. He was responding to treatment and his condition was stable, health officials said.
As per the norms stipulated by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the area of the patient was cordoned off and the neighbouring areas disinfected. The residents had been asked to remain indoors to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
A day earlier, a man tested positive at Walajahpet Government Hospital. Health Department officials said the house of the 26-year-old man, who returned from Dubai, located at Kilvisharam in Ranipet district, was cordoned off.
Ranipet under watch
“We obtained contacts list of the man and 48 of them in Ranipet were put under home quarantine. They are under constant observation by Health Department officials. His other contacts were staying in Chennai and Tirupattur and they were being handled by respective collectorate and health department personnel. We have advised the family members and other occupants of the residential building to stay indoors and not venture out. The surrounding areas have been brought under close surveillance. The sanitisation process was carried out in 10 surrounding streets,” said Ranipet District Collector S. Divyadharshini.
She said that the patient was stable now. All precautionary steps stipulated by the Health Department had been taken, she said and sought residents’ co-operation by staying indoors during the lockdown.
