Shifting its focus outside Chennai and its neighbouring areas, the Tamil Nadu government has instructed the Collectors of 15 districts that have reported a high number of COVID-19 cases in the past few days to consolidate their efforts, actively identify cases of influenza-like illness (ILI)/severe acute respiratory illness (SARI) and adopt the successful ‘fever clinics model’.
Chief Secretary K. Shanmugam on Monday held a videoconference with the Collectors of Dindigul, Kallakurichi, Kanniyakumari, Ramanathapuram, Ranipet, Salem, Sivaganga, Theni, Thoothukudi, Tiruchi, Tirunelveli, Tiruvannamalai, Vellore, Villupuram and Virudhunagar. When asked why these districts were chosen for the meeting, officials said they had reported a “high load [of cases] in recent times”.
“We have asked them to focus on controlling ILI/SARI cases. Several Collectors sounded positive and confident. They needed support to ramp up testing capacity and for the augmentation of health staff. We asked them to reach out to [the residents of] streets and habitations with fresh cases for actively perusing infections through camps,” a senior official told The Hindu .
Another official said the Chief Secretary had emphasised containment area management, augmentation of testing and hospital infrastructure, analysis of COVID-19-positive cases, engagement of volunteers in efforts to emphasise physical distancing, wearing of face masks and hand hygiene, and proper implementation of lockdown conditions.
While Chennai and neighbouring districts continued to report cases in triple digits, there was a need for preventing fresh infections in districts that had not reported very many cases earlier. “[The situation in] Chennai will be reviewed on Wednesday, and Madurai on Thursday,” the official said.
Director-General of Police J.K. Tripathy, Revenue Secretary Atulya Misra, Commissioner of Revenue Administration K. Phanindra Reddy and Public Secretary P. Senthil Kumar were among the senior officials who attended the meeting.
When asked about the possibility of setting up fruit/vegetable markets in different areas of the State capital to reduce crowding, an official said the State government was looking at three prospective sites — one at Potheri in Chengalpattu district, one at Madhavaram in Chennai district, and an alternative site at Thirumazhisai in Tiruvallur district.
