Orange zone Coimbatore sees gradual increase in cases again

Even as the health department began to breathe easy over a sharp fall in infections, the number of cases has started to rise gradually with four more cases on Sunday. Meanwhile Coimbatore also registered its first death due to COVID-19 as a 44-year-old man from Kavundampalayam, who was admitted to Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital in Chennai for cancer treatment on Thursday died on Sunday. He was suffering from myeloid leukemia.

Three members of a family including a 62-year-old man, who runs a Xerox shop, his 43-year-old wife and ten-yearold son from Venkitapuram had tested positive for the infection. His nine-yearold daughter has tested negative, but has been isolated in the ESI hospital as a precaution for further testing.

The family had approached the district administration officials a few days ago seeking permission to travel to Kerala, when they were asked to produce a COVID-19 negative certificate. When tested, they were found to be infected by the virus.

Another case is a 31-year-old pregnant woman from Saramedu. She visited a private hospital in Coimbatore for delivery. It was then she was diagnosed to be infected by the virus.

The four persons, all asymptomatic were shifted to ESI hospital and their contact members were being identified and isolated for testing. The health department officials said that their source of infection could not be known. Their residential areas Baba Street and Saramedu were declared containment zones and sealed to prevent spread of the infection.

With this, the total number of cases in Coimbatore has shot up to 146. For officials of the district administration, who were hoping for the district to move into green zone from the existing orange zone, a sudden rise in number of cases has come as a big disappointment.

A family of four persons, who set out on foot to Kallakurichi were stopped by police in Erode district on Sunday. According to police, Saravanan from Kallakurichi and his three sons aged, 20, 17 and 15, all construction workers had set on foot from Perundurai in the early morning hours.

“They came to Perundurai for construction work in the first week of March. Due to lockdown, the father and his three sons spent their days with food served by volunteers and construction site owner,” said the police.

At times, they managed to cook by buying essentials with their own savings. “They finally decided to take a long trek and started to walk in the early morning hours. The family had walked around 20 kilometres and was moving past Erode Government Hospital, when the Erode Town Police intercepted them. Inquiries with them revealed that the family had decided to walk till Pallipalayam and then board a sugarcane laden lorry to Kallakurichi.

The father and his three sons were then subjected to medical test to ensure that they were not suffering from COVID-19. Thereafter, they were served food and sent back again to Perundurai. The family was made to understand that they will have to face hassles in crossing the borders and was asked to go back to their place of stay itself.