Dainik Bhaskar   (Tamil newspaper) 23-04-2020

Dainik Bhaskar (Tamil newspaper) 23-04-2020

Laudable : Tamil Nadu ranks third among Corona infected states, 1596 people have been found infected here

Auroville, a city in Tamil Nadu; there are people from 54 countries, 10,000 tourists arrived here in 2 months and yet, not a single case of Corona

By Pramod Kumar | Auroville

Corona has caused major havoc all over the world, and in India foreigners are being tracked and monitored. And still there is a place in India where people from 54 countries live and not even a single case of Corona has surfaced. The name of this place is Auroville. The significant thing is that Auroville is a part of Tamil Nadu which is one of the top three infected states with 1596 cases. In the months of January and February, Auroville was visited by a huge number of tourists. Due to its proximity to Puducherry, 10,000 domestic and foreign tourists visited Auroville, in these two months. In February March 50 Aurovillians returned from other countries. In deference to the government's directive and a sense of social responsibility, they have presented a unique example in breaking the chain of Corona here. When there are reports of the escape of suspects in quarantine across another country, people here have voluntarily stayed in quarantine for not just 14 days but 25 days. Deputy Director Health, Villupuram District (Auroville falls in this district) Mr. S. Siddhartha says that due to a large number of foreign tourists and people from other countries live here, the concern of the health department was natural. They organised a camp and screened people. People who had travelled or had external contacts were quarantined. The people here have observed instructions and there is not a single case of infection.

8 reasons why nobody has been infected here:

• People who returned from abroad have been quarantined for 25 days.

• Essential items were delivered to the quarantined people at their homes.

• A list of essential items was taken from the senior citizens, from their homes.

• People even consulted doctors over phone.

• Organic farming continued to fulfil the needs of vegetables and fruits.

• The houses here are at a distance of 100 meters from each other.

• Under the community kitchen system, food for 1000 people is cooked at Solar Kitchen. Food was delivered to people at home in tiffins. Nobody stepped out to eat.

• Since March, ingredients that prevent infection were integrated into the Solar Kitchen menu. This helped increase the immunity.