At least 33 people have tested positive for the coronavirus in the Chennai office of a popular Tamil daily. The editorial team has not officially divulged further details but sources tell TNM that the hospital and lodging expenses is being handled by the organisation.
Speaking to TNM on the condition of anonymity, an employee from the group said that all affected staff were being treated in private hospitals by the management and those who recover are being lodged in private hotels for two weeks. All expenses for treatment and lodging are being handled by the management.
This is the second such major media cluster in Tamil Nadu since the lockdown began. The first was in a Tamil news channel where over 30 people tested positive on the desk and reporting units of the channel. The source of the infection in this case was a 24-year-old journalist who is part of the editorial staff.
Sathiyam TV MD Isaac Livingstone had then said that the channel would not be telecasting live and they would cooperate with the government.
In addition to this reporters and camera persons in several other news channels and papers have tested positive for the virus over the last two months. Other than Tamil Nadu, many journalists in Maharashtra too have contracted the infection.
As on Wednesday, Tamil Nadu had 18,545 cases of coronavirus and 133 deaths from the infection.