Eighty-four people working inside Raj Bhavan, the official residence of Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit, have tested positive for the coronavirus. Following this, Raj Bhavan and its compound have been disinfected and sanitised.

In a Raj Bhavan communique released on Thursday, the government stated that after a few people living on the premises showed symptoms for COVID-19, 147 persons were tested for the disease. Of them, 84 personnel, including security persons and fire safety staff, tested positive.

“All these persons were further investigated and now have been quarantined by the Health Department,” the statement said. It added that all persons who have tested positive for coronavirus were working at the main gate and other areas, and not in the main building. “None of these persons came in contact with Hon’ble Governor or Senior officials of Raj Bhavan,” it added.

Around five Tamil Nadu ministers and 14 MLAs have been tested positive for the virus in the recent past. Tamil Nadu Minister for Labour Nilofer Kafeel was confirmed to have tested positive for COVID-19, and she has been in home quarantine ever since. Ministers KP Anbalagan, P Thangamani and Sellur K Raju were discharged from various hospitals after recovering from the disease.

As of Wednesday, Tamil Nadu reported that 51,765 persons were being treated for COVID-19 and almost 21 lakh samples have been tested in the state. Chennai has almost 14,000 active cases, and Madurai and Thiruvallur districts have over 3,000 active cases each.

About 1.31 lakh persons have been discharged on recovery and over 3,100 persons have died due to COVID-19 in Tamil Nadu. On Wednesday, the state government added 444 deaths that were previously unreconciled into the COVID-19 tally, based on the recommendation of the Deaths Reconciliation Committee headed by Dr P Vadivelan.