Thermal screening of devotees begins at Srirangam temple

All the devotees are screened with thermal guns by a team of temple staff at the ‘Ranga Ranga Gopuram’ main entrance, besides the two other entrances at 'Vellai Gopuram' and 'Vadakku Gopuram', said P Jayaraman, HR&CE Joint Commissioner and Executive Officer of the temple.

The staff, who have been specially trained by government hospital doctors, will be checking the body temperature of the devotees and those showing symptoms of fever, cough and difficulty in breathing will be restricted from entering the temple and instead be taken to the isolation ward at the Srirangam government hospital and if necessary, to the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Government Hospital, Jayaraman said.

Hand sanitisers and liquid hand wash have also been made available at all the restrooms within the temple premises.

This is the second temple in the country, after Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD), to initiate thermal screening of devotees, Jayaraman added.

Already, temples in the southern region, including Sri Meenakshi Sundareswarar temple, Arulmigu Dandayudhapani Swami temple at Palani Hills in Dindigul district and Arulmigu Subramanya Swamy temple at Tiruchendur in Thoothukudi district have issued health advisory, asking devotees with symptoms of cold, sore throat or fever to not visit the temples as a precautionary measure to check the spread of COVID-19.