Though COVID-19 cases in Chennai are witnessing a steady rise, Health Minister Ma. Subramanian on Wednesday pointed out that nearly 90% of the patients were in home isolation with mild symptoms.
Addressing the media after a review meeting with senior officials from Greater Chennai Corporation, he said of the 782 active cases in the city (as on Monday), 684 were in home isolation. The remaining required hospitalisation, mainly because of comorbidities.
The city reported 171 cases on Tuesday. “New cases getting reported are expected to cross 200 on Wednesday,” the Minister said. Anna Nagar, Teynampet, Kodambakkam and Adyar zones were reporting relatively more number of cases.
Acknowledging that clusters of cases in residential areas were getting reported, he said 52 streets in the city had more than three cases, of which six had more than five cases each. To contain the spread, he said the number of RT-PCR tests being done daily by the civic body would be doubled. The number of persons tested daily would be increased from around 2,500 to 5,000 from Thursday.
A total of 3,418 temporary and permanent workers of GCC were deployed in the field to monitor the health of COVID-19 patients and to carry out other containment measures. The field staff were visiting all those in home isolation on a daily basis, apart from talking to them over phone. The staff of GCC were also calling those in hospitals to enquire about their health on a daily basis, he said.
Ruling out the need for stringent measures like the formation of containment zones with movement restrictions in entire streets, the Minister said stickers would, however, be put up on the houses with COVID-19 cases, particularly those in streets with more number of cases. The field staff would ensure that the home isolation restrictions were not violated.
The Corporation would soon be creating 50-bedded COVID Care Centres in three places in the city. The Minister said no ramping up of infrastructure was required at the moment as the hospitals already had adequate number of beds and oxygen facilities.
Masking and vaccination
Highlighting that the booster dose coverage of COVID-19 vaccination was poor, he appealed to the public to get booster doses. He urged the public to wear masks. No new restrictions would be imposed on schools. The COVID-appropriate behaviour such as maintaining personal distancing and wearing of masks should, however, be adhered to.
