Many of Chennai’s offices have begun screening employees and visitors coming into their offices as the country reports its 56th positive case of coronavirus. The city is home to multiple Information Technology (IT) and IT Enabled Services (ITES) companies.

Many of the companies work out of Old Mahabalipuram Road, which is also known as the IT Expressway, and some IT parks, including Chennai One in Thuraipakkam, have set up facilities to screen those who enter the campus.

Speaking to TNM, a business owner who has his office in Global Infocity on MGR Salai in Perungudi, says that the restrictions were put in place about a week ago. “There were general awareness posters and flyers in the campus. Last week there was an email notice sent to all the admins (about the screening process),” he says. According to him, all visitors will be made to undergo thermal screening at the entry point. “They are sporadically screening the employees who are coming to offices by bikes and on foot. I have been in a car and never screened,” he adds.

For Suganya*, who is employed at a small private consulting firm with around 400 employees, it was a surprise when she returned to her workplace last week after a long vacation. “They have been screening people’s body temperatures since last week. I am not sure since when they actually started it since I was on a holiday,” she says. They were not informed of the new arrangement by the management.

The Flex manufacturing facility in Sriperumbudur, on the outskirts of Chennai, has also set up an elaborate screening process for anyone who enters the campus. “We all got emails regarding the screening last week. Our body temperatures are checked when we enter the campus. Those who got back from foreign trips are sent back home due to coronavirus scare,” according to an employee, who requested anonymity. The facility employs around 4,000 people.

Meanwhile, the government of Tamil Nadu has collected 72 samples as of Monday from passengers and sent them for testing at the King Institute of Preventive Medicine in Guindy. Of the 72 samples, 69 have tested negative for the virus, while two are still being processed. One sample, a man who had recently returned from Oman, was tested positive for COVID-19. He is being treated in the isolation ward in Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital, Chennai.