Coronavirus: Tamil Nadu is the fourth most affected state in the country with 8.2 lakh of cases and 12,000 deaths. (Archive)
Chennai:
Twenty staff members at Chennai’s flagship hotel, the Leela Palace, tested positive for COVID-19, health authorities said Monday.
This is the second Chennai luxury hotel to emerge as a COVID-19 cluster after ITC Grand Chola.
On Saturday, at least 85 ITC hotel employees, their families and neighbors were declared positive for the new coronavirus infection. Although hotel officials said they are following all state-run Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), in addition to their own hygiene protocol, Tamil Nadu health authorities ordered a saturation test covering all members of the establishment. and in all the hotels in the city.
At the Leela Palace, 232 staff members were tested and the results of about 10 percent showed they had the coronavirus disease, a senior health official said.
According to officials, a total of 6,416 people are directly employed in Chennai hotels. Of those, nearly 68 percent, or 4,392 staff members, were tested for coronavirus.
In total 125, about 3 percent, hotel employees tested positive and the results of another 491 are expected, said the official. All business meetings, events at hotels in the city are being closely monitored, he added.
“Hotels in Chennai are being regularly assessed and sensitized. The Chennai Corporation was asked to conduct a saturation test for all hotel residents,” Tamil Nadu Health Secretary J Radhakrishnan previously said.
This is the third case of a high-profile COVID-19 cluster outbreak in Chennai in recent months.
The first was detected at IIT-Madras in mid-December last year. More than 100 students received COVID-19 within a week and the campus had to be temporarily closed.
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