With COVID-19 cases rising by roughly 39% in the last week, the district administration has said that a total of 238 streets in Madurai Corporation will be regarded as ‘containment zones’ henceforth.
A Tamil Nadu Government Notification on June 5 stated that there were no containment zones in Madurai despite having recorded 291 cases as on that day. The district administration resorted to barricading individual houses where patients tested positive for COVID-19 instead.
Since June 14, Madurai district has recorded 253 of its total 636 cases. The sporadic rise in 90 cases alone on June 20, has caused alarm among citizens. District Collector T. G. Vinay said the administration would be barricading streets as they did when the lockdown was initiated in March. “Streets where even one case is recorded will be sealed and police personnel will stand guard. Nobody will be allowed to travel in and out of these areas unless the number of cases are contained,” he said.
He added health workers would going door-to-door in these areas to survey any if there were any cases in these streets. They would be brought to their nearest fever clinics, tested and then admitted to the GRH if they were found to be COVID-19 positive, he said.
Mr. Vinay said high number of inter-district travellers can be considered as reasons for the spread. He added that the health department was looking into other causes for the high number of cases and presence of clusters.
Madurai MP Su. Venkatesan in a press statement said that apart from the glaring number of new cases, there had also been several deaths in south Tamil Nadu. “Madurai, which is central to trade, sees hundreds of passengers penetrating the border every day for business. Hundreds of people without legitimate e-passes from the government too have entered the district from places like Chennai,” he said. The MP added that these were only a few of the reasons for the spread of COVID-19 in the district. Several others without any travel history had also shown COVID-19 symptoms in the last couple of days.
“Strict vigilance is the need of the hour especially in Madurai,” he said.
