Express News Service CHENNAI: On Monday, a 50-year-old woman resident of Broadway tested positive for the virus. After tracing her contacts, Corporation officials suspect she could have caught the infection from her son who recently returned from Kerala. The son, who returned on March 21, and her husband, who is the Imam of a local mosque, are now under observation at the RGGGH. “The woman did not step out of her house much, while her son has a travel history. We are checking if she caught the virus from her son,” said an official. The patient has a total of three sons. It was the eldest who travelled to Kerala. “The youngest son has no contacts with the family. The middle son is an IT employee, and resides near Thousand Lights. He is also now under observation.” Their test results are awaited. The family lives in a three-storey building, and officials have put other residents in the there under observation. “The Imam has not participated in any prayers recently, but we would still be conducting inquiries with local mosques to avoid any later issues,” added the officials. The entire street where the woman was residing, near the Beach Station, has been locked down. “We inspected 500 houses so far. We plan to cover 2,500 by evening,” said an official at 11.45 am. The situation here is delicate because her house is located on a packed, narrow street, increasing danger of transmission. “This is the first case in north Chennai area. We have named this place ‘Central Sector’ and houses up to Mint will be screened thoroughly,’’ they said. Apart from the containment plan, the civic body is disinfecting the area and have strongly advised people to stay indoors. Fumigation activities are conducted in Royapuram, Old Washermenpet and Tondiarpet areas, which are in seven km-radius from Broadway. All the homeless people in surrounding areas including those on the whole stretch of Rajaji Salai have been quarantined. All contacts of 65-yr-old patient test negative After almost a week of keeping the contacts of the 65-year-old COVID-19 patient from Santhome under observation, the civic body officials confirmed that none of them showed any symptoms during the period. The patient was tested positive on March 24 and since then the civic body had kept his wife, nine servants, a driver and a security guard under observation. However, all of them have tested negative and showed no symptoms.

Stay updated with all the Chennai Latest News headlines here. For more exclusive & live news updates from all around India, stay connected with NYOOOZ.