TENKASI: Joint Director of Health Services-cum-Nodal Officer for coronavirus disease control for southern districts Dr Mathusoothanan on Sunday said that his department has planned to include Anganwadi workers to isolate migrant labourers, with symptoms of coronavirus infection, returning en masse from Kerala to Tenkasi, Tirunelveli and Kanniyakumari districts.
The officials of Health Department have swung into action to curb the spread of coronavirus disease in the southern districts bordering Kerala, from where the first coronavirus positive case was reported.
In Tenkasi, the staff of health and animal husbandry departments have been camping at Puliyarai check-post.
While the former work on controlling the spread of coronavirus disease by performing thermal screening on passengers from Kerala, the latter have ensured that each vehicle from Kerala is being sprayed with disinfectants to prevent bird flu outbreak in Tamil Nadu.
‘Tourist surge a worry’
A health official, on condition of anonymity, said that over 20,000 migrant labourers have temporarily lost their jobs in Kerala.
“The labourers have started arriving in Tenkasi, Tirunelveli and Kanniyakumari districts. About 1,000 passengers from Kerala are entering per day, in a total of 25 bus trips. Another 2,500 to 3,000 people, including vegetable transporters, enter the State in four-wheelers. Since the schools in Kerala were closed, the number of tourists has witnessed a steep increase,” added the official.