Srirangapatna: In a fresh outbreak of Coronavirus, 33 people tested positive for COVID-19 since the last two days in Srirangapatna and 27 of them had returned from Tamil Nadu where they had been to attend a religious event. A majority of the infected are women and children.

The outbreak has alarmed the Srirangapatna Taluk Administration and as a precaution, all those who have tested positive have been isolated. Hectic efforts are on to trace the primary and secondary contacts.

The main religious event is being held at Tamil Nadu and two more bus-loads of people who had gone there from Srirangapatna are on their way back today or tomorrow. Added to the woes, over 200 more people are awaiting to go to the neighbouring State.

Over 500 people, most of them women and children, have come to Srirangapatna from various parts of Mysuru and Mandya to attend the religious event. After preliminary rituals here they go to Tamil Nadu.

Taluk Health Officer (THO) N.K. Venkatesh told Star of Mysore that the outbreak was detected as a few persons who returned from Tamil Nadu underwent RT-PCR test. “We have isolated all of them and the devotees who are coming back to Srirangapatna in buses today or tomorrow will be screened and tested as soon as they arrive here before they head home. In case they test positive, they too will be isolated,” he said.

Soon after the cases were detected, teams from Revenue and Police Departments are visiting houses and personally requesting people not to go to the neighbouring State. “We are trying our best to convince them and they are being told about the dangers to them and to their family members,” Venkatesh added.