After a doctor in a Tamil Nadu district tested positive for COVID-19, the District Collector of Nagapattinam has requested those who came in contact with him to self-report.
As per IANS, Dr Kumarappan of Malar Hospital in Nagapattinam recently tested positive for the novel coronavirus. Following this, District Collector Praveen P Nair appealed to the public to come forward if they had seen the doctor for a medical consultation in the recent days. He also said that the doctor himself had self-reported after he suspected that he had contracted coronavirus.
Nagapattinam district has reported 24 cases of COVID-19 cases as of Sunday and containment zones have been strictly implemented in the district. Praveen P Nair also told IANS that district officials have surveyed around 50,000 people in the district.
This is not the first time the district or local administrations in Tamil Nadu have appealed to the people to self-report or place themselves under home quarantine. Earlier, the Greater Chennai Corporation announced that a worker at Phoenix Mall in Chennai had tested positive for COVID-19 and called for anyone who had visited the Lifestyle showroom in the mall between March 10 and 17 to place themselves in quarantine and call the helpline in case of symptoms.
In another instance, the corporation had also asked those who had travelled by Air Asia and IndiGo flights from Delhi to Chennai on March 24 to home quarantine after a group of people who had travelled on these flights tested positive for the virus.
Earlier in March, the government of Tamil Nadu had launched a website that would enable people to self-report in case they have a travel history or symptoms of COVID-19. Upon submitting details on this website, a 24x7 control room would get in touch with those people and subject them to testing or isolation as appropriate.
(With inputs from IANS)