Hill residents confused as 20 tribals of 34-member group alone test +ve

Tiruvannamalai

According to residents of hill hamlets, a total of 40 persons, including 20 from tribal members, tested positive on Thursday.

Sources said that the 20 tribal residents were workers at tea estates in Karnataka. Following the lockdown imposition all of them had reached Bengaluru and from there they along with a group of 14 persons returned to Tiruvannamalai. Of these 34, only 20 tested positive and all of them were tribal residents of 10 village panchayats, including Jamaunamarudur, Athipatu, Konnerikudisai, Kovilur, Melmarathur and Jadayanoor, in the hills. Among the 20 positive cases, 15 are men and 5 women, including a two-year-old girl child and a 65-year-old woman, sources said.

This strange development has come as a shocker to the district administration which till Thursday, took pride claiming that the hill hamlets were pandemic free, sources added.

The next day that is on Friday 48 more cases tested positive and with these the tally of Tiruvannamalai district had gone up to 352.

It may be recalled that a diktat was issued wherein those working in Karnataka were asked to return only after the lockdown was lifted. The order also warned that they would not be allowed into tribal villages if they come before the lockdown. The local tribals had also barricaded the villages by closing the entrance with thorny bushes.

An official stationed in the hills, seeking anonymity, said, “Initially, the tribals were able to move within the village after closing the entrance. But after positive cases surfaced within their community, many have barricaded their homes in a bid to safeguard their families from the virus infection.”