The positivity rate of samples that had been rising so far is stabilising step by step in the city but that does not mean people can drop their guard, Health Secretary J. Radhakrishnan said on Sunday.
After inspecting a fever camp in the city, Dr. Radhakrishnan said till date 12,354 fever camps had been held in the city and as many as 8.02 lakh persons had attended them.
He pointed out that the Greater Chennai Corporation had 1,979 slums and that the government had deployed one person for every 150 houses. It had also roped in non-governmental organisations to work with the government.
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“We identified almost 37,000 persons with influenza-like infection and swab tests were taken for 32,861 people. So the fever camps have been useful. The strategy helped in isolating people and giving them treatment. The same activity will be continued,” he said.
With the government relaxing restrictions from Monday the health department is concerned that people would tend to ignore the precautions. Dr. Radhakrishnan urged people to follow the protocols such as maintaining physical distance of at least six feet; frequent handwashing and wearing mask in public places. He also appealed to the people not to crowd shops and markets.
“The biggest challenge is that we should continue observing these diligently and not take it lightly,” he said, urging the people to seek fever clinics if they have any one of the symptoms such as fever or cough and cold. “The same extent of camps and activities will continue but we need public support,” he said.
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The next step would be to increase the number of samples collected in Madurai, where the numbers had been rising.
Dr. Radhakrishnan visited Tiruvallur on Sunday and also held meetings with the health officials there.