Fleeing Chennai residents blamed for spike in cases around Vellore

Chennai

Natives of these districts residing in the metropolis are fleeing from the pandemic in the city.

The most affected is Tiruvannamalai district with a tally of 483 positive cases as of Friday. Collector KS Kandasamy said, “Most are labourers, specially from Koyambedu, returned to their native villages and thus tested positive.”

Ranipet district faces a similar problem as many from the district work in Chennai. While there have been no deaths, the tally of positive cases as on Friday stood at 105 and “all positive cases are those returning from Chennai,” an official added.

Tirupattur too was affected by Chennai returnees with the tally of positive cases crossing the 41 mark on Friday. So far, 29 have been discharged. An official seeking anonymity said, “Chennai returnees are the cause, but most avoid voluntary check-up. The issue is aggravated as we receive information belatedly and in the meantime they could have infected more people.”

Vellore, which initially had only a handful of cases now sees the tally increasing daily with 14 new cases (7 from Pernambut, 6 in Gudiyattam and 1 in Vellore) being reported on Thursday taking the total to 67 cases on Friday, according to Collector A Shanmuga Sundaram. “We know the increase is due to Chennai workers getting back, but the question is what prevented them from doing so earlier,” he wondered.