Tamil Nadu reports seventh COVID-19 patient, spike in home quarantine figure

The number of positive COVID-19 patients in Tamil Nadu rose to seven on Sunday with a traveler from Spain testing positive for the coronavirus, even as the state reported a massive increase in the number of people being quarantined at their homes.

The fresh positive case was reported even as Tamil Nadu was scrambling to trace the travel history of three patients – one who travelled from New Delhi to Chennai by train – and two Thailand nationals who were in the western parts of the state for a few days before they tested positive.

The Government has also come under severe criticism for not sharing the travel history of the patients by citing “medical ethics.” Though the government has quarantined more than 300 people who have come in contact with the above mentioned three patients, they have not been able to find out the source of the infection.

The state has also almost doubled the number of people quarantined at home. While the number of people under home quarantine was 4,253 on Friday, it jumped to 8,950 on Saturday raising questions on whether the state was testing only a smaller number of people. However, the government hasn’t given any explanation for the massive spike in numbers.

“A traveller from Spain tests #Covid_19 positive. Patient is undergoing treatment in isolation,” Health Minister C Vijayabhaskar said on Sunday, without revealing much details about the patient.

The two Thailand nationals, who have tested positive and currently quarantined at the IRT Hospital in Perundurai in Erode district, are part of a group of tourists who arrived in Tamil Nadu in the first week of March. One person, who tested negative for COVID-19, passed away on March 17 at a hospital in Coimbatore and the group is understood to have visited several places in Erode.

Another person, who tested positive on Saturday, is a native of Chennai who landed here from Singapore after visiting New Zealand.

The state has so far tested 412 people and has put 8,950 under home quarantine and 54 in hospitals after screening. “The samples of 342 passengers are processed of which 339 samples are negative, 6 samples are positive for COVID-19 infection and 67 samples are under process,” an update from the Health Department on Saturday night said.

Of the 6 samples that tested positive, one patient has been discharged.