TN sets up quarantine centres for those returning from other states

The Tamil Nadu government has set up quarantine centres near checkposts in all border districts to carry out initial screening of people returning from neighbouring states. District administrations have converted school and college hostels into facility quarantine to lodge people returning from other states.

TN began allowing people stuck in other states to return from Wednesday provided they travel in their own vehicles. TN has also launched a website for people stuck in other states to register and apply for e-passes to come to their home state. As a first step, the government has decided to let people with own vehicles into TN.

Healthcare professionals have been placed at every check post to check whether people returning have any serious COVID-19 symptoms, besides checking their body temperature using thermal screeners. All symptomatic passengers will be tested after being lodged at quarantine centres, while asymptomatic patients will be sent to home quarantine.

Administrations in border districts like Krishnagiri, Coimbatore, Kanyakumari, Theni, Tenkasi, Tiruvallur, Ranipet and Vellore have made elaborate arrangements to screen people coming from across the TN border.

“We have readied quarantine facilities near all checkposts. We will take those returning from other states to these hostels and keep them for at least a day. Swab samples of symptomatic and high-risk people will be taken immediately, while others will be monitored there for at least a day,” a senior official from Krishnagiri district administration told DH.

Krishnagiri, which shares borders with Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, has taken over schools and colleges to convert them into quarantine centres. And if the persons reaching TN do not have any symptoms while under observation, they will be sent for home quarantine.

Kanyakumari, which is close to Kerala capital Thiruvananthapuram and shares border with TN, has also set up quarantine facilities near all its inter-state checkposts to lodge symptomatic people coming from the other side of the border to get them tested.

“We have made elaborate arrangements to check people who come from Kerala because our district shares a border with the neighbouring state. Each quarantine facility can accommodate up to 100 persons and we will screen every passenger for any symptoms,” District Collector Prashant M Wadnere told DH.

Tiruppur District Collector Dr K Vijayakarthikeyan said high risk and symptomatic people will be tested immediately, while asymptomatic people will be sent for home quarantine.

“We have an effective mechanism to monitor people who are advised to home quarantine. People whose samples are collected will be lodged at these centres till they their results come out. If they are positive, they will be shifted to hospitals. Otherwise, they will be under home quarantine,” he said.