No room for self-isolation in many homes in Ariyalur
ARIYALUR: Persons found to be COVID-19 positive and sent home by the Ariyalur district administration are having a rough time of it in their villages. As their houses do not have enough rooms for them to self-isolate, family members are also suffering. As pressure from local people mounted, the district administration did a U-turn on Thursday and took the infected persons back to quarantine facilities in schools and colleges.
With Ariyalur district registering an increasing number of cases, the GH here ran short of beds. Officials then asked infected persons to go home and isolate themselves. They kept only those with symptoms in the hospital. Except for a few, most of the people affected by COVID-19 went home on Wednesday. However, their houses do not have adequate rooms and toilet facilities for them to self-isolate. Most are daily wagers in Koyambedu market.
An infected person from Ayanathur said, “There is no toilet facility in the houses of five infected persons from my village. We had to wake up early in the morning and defecate in the open. After taking a bath, we entered our houses before others woke up.”
At Nathakuzhi village, villagers themselves isolated the affected people in a church and provided them food. At Vanjinapuram, villagers arranged for their isolation in a house. They were not allowed to go to their own homes and the villagers also told officials to take them to a separate quarantine facility. As such pressure mounted, the district administration, starting from Wednesday night, took measures to move the infected persons to schools and colleges.
About 50 people are still at home, according to Health department sources. A senior health official told TNIE most of the patients were now moved to the quarantine facilities.