The season of coronavirus or COVID 19 is not about fear, anxiety and tension alone. The pandemic has a lighter side too. An interaction with Government staff working round-the-clock for corona virus detection and to trace the persons suspected of carrying the virus brought out some interesting facts. It has the potential to send one in splits notwithstanding the tiresome work being put up by the team of officials.
It all began with the Markaz Nizamuddin congregation and in the backdrop of reports that 1500 delegates from Tamil Nadu attended the international conclave held to re-energise the Tablighi Jamaat operations in India.
The Chennai Corporation officials and the Domestic Breeding Checkers zeroed in on a returnee from the Nizamuddin meet and went to examine the person on March 23. He is a resident of Korukkupet, an area dominated by the community to which the man belongs.
The members of his house and some of the neighbours told the officials that the suspect was not there and he has gone to a relation’s house outside the city. The officials believed what they told and went back.
But when they were told again by the family members on March 28 and 31 that the man has not returned, the officials smelled a rat and sought the help of local police. The local police in Chennai has their own “intelligence agents” who informed them that the person whom they are looking for was present in his house and was in hiding. The corporation officials with the assistance of the local police barged into the residence in the wee hours of Friday only to be welcomed by the man they were searching for!
“Though he was reluctant to agree that he was the same person whom we were looking for, the man finally came round and accompanied us to the Stalnely Medical College for tests. He was tested positive and was admitted to the hospital for treatment. He had reservations in getting admitted to the hospital but the menu of the delicacies served free of cost for the patients did him in. Till he is found negative, the man would be provided with Idli, Pongal, chutney and sambar for breakfast, egg biriyani for lunch and dinner , tea/coffee and snacks in the evening,” said one of the officials.
Once they admitted the man in the isolation ward, the officials rushed to Korukkupet to quarantine the entire street and are in the process of examining all the people in the neighbourhood. “Though he gave us enough headache, our modus operandi to make him fall in line and his passion for food made up for all our efforts,” said the health official.
City of Chennai and the Old Mahabalipuram Highway (also known as IT highway because of the number of IT majors in this stretch) wore a deserted look on Saturday as vehicles and persons stayed off the roads. Sriperumbudur , the hub of automobile giants and engineering companies resembled a ghost city with no vehicles or persons coming out in the open. Trade bodies said that the industrial hub is losing Rs 2,500 crore per day because of the lock down. Liquor is the most sought after commodity in Tamil Nadu as in neighbouring Kerala. The entire liquor stock in Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation (TASMAC) retail counters are being shifted to secured marriage halls in the State to save the ‘stuff” from the preying eyes of spirit bandits.