TIRUCHY: Amidst rising COVID-19 positive cases, the district administration’s delay in announcing test results of Gandhi market traders has drawn a sharp criticism from the public. A total of 246 traders underwent testing on June 15 after one of the traders’ representatives tested positive.
It has been five days since swab samples were collected from them, but no result has yet been announced. With this, the movement of traders just like any other day has caused fear among people.
“What is the whole point of taking tests when results are not announced immediately? Right after the traders were identified as possible contacts, officials should have placed them in-home quarantine. If they were affected and continued their business, just imagine how many people would have been affected in the last few days,” said Siva Kumar, a resident.
Incidentally, five persons who came in contact with the traders’ leader tested positive in the last two days. A trader who was a part of the batch tested on June 15 said, “I participated in the peace meeting at Tiruchy Corporation office on June 7. Although they arranged for testing immediately, they did not announce the result yet. We are getting scared on knowing our fellow workers tested positive.We are a part of the essential services and cannot afford to incur more losses.
"Hence, we want the district administration to announce the result soon.” District Collector S Sivarasu said, “Thousands of samples are being taken every day. We are expecting the test results at the earliest. Once it is released, we will immediately start isolating them and preventing the further spread of the virus.” Officials pointed out that everyday new samples were arriving through flights and hence they were unable to process faster.