With over hundreds of COVID-19 cases, some of the elite and reputed star hotels in Chennai are carrying the banners of COVID-19 hotspot and the premises of the popular hotels had invited strict measures and restrictions to curb further spread of the pandemic when the state has been witnessing a sharp decrease in the positive cases. 

Reputed ITC Grand Chola Hotel in Chennai was the first star hotel in Chennai to become the superspreader of the COVID-19 viral infection after the elite premises had reported over 80 positive cases of the pandemic following which the Greater Chennai Corporation had deployed the preventive measures and imposed restrictions and canceled the events to contain the spread. 

Days after ITC Grand Chola emerged as the COVID-19 cluster, another star hotel Leela Palace has now emerged as the hotspot after some of its staff were confirmed to have contracted the pandemic. Leela Palace is in MRC Nagar, Chennai and according to reports, 20 staff members of the hotel had tested positive following which the Chennai Corporation had imposed the restrictions and ordered the hotel to suspend all its scheduled events and gatherings immediately. 

According to the Chennai Corporation, a total of 1,623 employees working in the star hotels in Chennai have put through for COVID-19 testing as of Sunday since December 16, and of these 1,623 employees, 114 have returned positive for the infection. Along with that, 2,769 employees working in non-star hotels in Chennai had tested for COVID-19 since December 16 as of Sunday, and of these 2,769 employees, 11 employees were confirmed to have contracted the viral infection. 

A total of 125 hotel staff members have tested positive for COVID-19 as of Sunday. According to reports, ITC Grand Chola and Leela Palace had emerged as major clusters with a rising number of cases. 97 samples out of 619 samples have returned positive in ITC Grand Chola between December 15 and January 3 while 20 samples out of 232 samples were tested positive in Leela Palace during the same period. 

Following the development, the civic body has been undertaking aggressive testing in hotels and tracing the contacts of the people who have attended the events and functions during the same period. The corporation will also carry out testing for the close contacts of the employees and restricted the events in all the star hotels in the city as a preventive measure. 

According to the state's health department, Tamil Nadu has reported 8,20,712 positive cases so far as of Sunday and of these positive cases, 8,127 are active, 8,00,429 have been discharged, and 12,156 have succumbed to the viral infection.