Coimbatore Corporation officials on Saturday sealed a GRT Jewellers showroom in the city for violating COVID-19 norms imposed by the state government.
According to reports, the showroom on Cross Cut Road, Gandhipuram was functioning with a higher number of staff members than permitted by the government of Tamil Nadu. Among them, around 30 had also recently come from Chennai without an e-pass and had not quarantined themselves at home, as required by the rules in effect in the state.
On Saturday morning, acting on a tip off, Corporation health officials and police visited the shop and conducted an inquiry, in which details of the staff members’ transgressions had emerged. The multiple floors of the shop were immediately disinfected and the showroom was sealed by the officials.
According to existing norms in the state, those who travel between the zones shall undergo 14-day home quarantine if they are asymptomatic.
Speaking to TNM, Coimbatore City Commissioner of Police Sumit Sharan said that RT-PCR swabs have been taken from all the employees in the showroom and all of them have been taken to the district quarantine facilities. “Based on the results, we will consider further action. Meanwhile, the district health authorities are in the process of furnishing a complaint on the issue,” he said. He added that once the RT-PCR results come back by the evening or on Sunday, further investigation will take place about the mode of transport they used to come and who helped them without an e-pass.”
Coimbatore reported 29 new cases of COVID-19 on Friday and the number of patients currently undergoing treatment in the district stands at 81. Ninety-four flights have landed at the Coimbatore International Airport since May 25, bringing in 11,150 passengers, of which 52 have tested positive for novel coronavirus. The district also has a policy of subjecting all passengers arriving through domestic and international flights to RT-PCR tests and housing them in institutional quarantine until the results arrive.