COIMBATORE: A multi-storey jewellery store on the Crosscut Road in Coimbatore was sealed by the district administration on Saturday after 30 workers, who entered the district illegally from Chennai on Thursday, joined work the following day.
The jewellery store management did not make the workers quarantine themselves for 14 days. Also, the management did not report to the health department the arrival of the employees.
The workers were accommodated in a private lodge in the area. “We received a tip-off from a person in the area that 30 people, who returned from Chennai, had joined work in the jewellery store the very next day, without being tested for covid-19,” said tehsildar Magesh Kumar.
When the officials landed at the store on Saturday morning, they found the 30 people working in the systems section of the building. They immediately sealed the building, stopped all customers and began testing the employees.
“Besides the 30 people from Chennai, who they claim did not interact with customers, and only worked on systems, we are testing nearly 200 of their other employees,” said Kumar. “ Since we brought a private laboratory to collect the samples, the jewellery store has been asked to bear the expenses of testing of Rs 3,500 per person,” he added.
Sanitary inspectors also began disinfecting the entire building including the basement. The duration of the sealing has not been decided.
“All the Chennai returnees and other workers have to quarantine themselves for two weeks. The district collector will decide when they can reopen the store,” said the tehsildar.
Officials were checking how the 30 people had crossed the border without being detected.
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