Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami on Wednesday said the State government would increase the rate of testing samples for COVID-19 in red zones and speed up testing in Chennai, which accounts for around 35% of the cases reported in the State so far.
Besides, the government has constituted 15 field support teams (FSTs) to assist the district administration in containment zones in the Chennai, Coimbatore, Madurai, Salem and Tiruppur Municipal Corporations.
Mr. Palaniswami said that the testing of samples would be ramped up, and that “all those living on the streets where COVID-19 cases were reported” would be tested in the first phase. In the next phase, residents of the respective wards will be randomly tested. In Chennai, the number of mobile testing units will be increased from the existing three to 10, to reach houses of those suspected to have COVID-19.
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“With Chennai reporting more cases, the Chief Minister is focusing more on containing the spread here. During the Collectors’ meeting, it emerged that the efforts being made in districts and rural areas have been paying off. The challenge is primarily in Chennai and some other places,” a senior official told
Six zones of the Greater Chennai Corporation that have at least 40 patients — Tondiarpet (zone 4), Royapuram (zone 5), Thiru-Vi-Ka Nagar (zone 6), Anna Nagar (zone 8), Teynampet (zone 9) and Kodambakkam (zone 10) — have been assigned an FST each. Three other FSTs have been assigned to three zones each, and one team has been assigned to the Greater Chennai Corporation’s headquarters. Likewise, Tiruppur, Coimbatore, Madurai and Salem Municipal Corporations have been assigned an FST each.
These teams will “assist the district administration/the Greater Chennai Corporation to ensure management of containment zones, provision of essential services in the containment area, contract tracing and testing, etc.” Each FST comprises IAS and IPS officers and senior officials from local bodies and the Health Department. The District Collectors will coordinate with FSTs.
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Containment zones
Mr. Palaniswami said that hand sanitisers, masks and disinfectants would be distributed to residents of all houses in the containment zones. A new committee would be constituted to ascertain if there were COVID-19 cases without a proven contact history, and then trace their contacts. He also gave a series of other instructions to raise awareness on the importance of physical distancing, wearing masks and ensuring hygiene.
Arrangements will be made to quarantine the poor in government quarantine facilities if they are unable to do so on their own due to space constraints. Mobile toilets will be arranged in containment zones, if needed, he said.