Stadium to be quarantine centre

The Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium in Chennai will be turned into a quarantine centre, said Chief Secretary K. Shanmugam.

After chairing a meeting with nodal officers for 15 zones of the Greater Chennai Corporation on Saturday, the Chief Secretary told The Hindu that the Stadium, on conversion into a quarantine centre, would be able to accommodate 500-600 persons. “In the last one week, more and more marriage halls were turned into quarantine centres as they have a provision for cooking,” he pointed out.

Expressing satisfaction over the day’s meeting with the officers, he said several new ideas were being translated into action. Sensitisation of people in slums regarding physical distancing norms, analysis of individual cases and detection of “strategic lapses” were among measures being undertaken for micro-level intervention. “We came to know that people did not take

kabasura kudineer, the herbal concoction considered an immunity booster, when it was given in packets. So we are now preparing it in places where we are planning to serve it to the people,” he said.

When pointed out that there was no let up in the rate of COVID-19 cases in Chennai, the Chief Secretary said that there had not been any spike. “We have been able to maintain the rate. I expect some improvement to take place in the next few days,” he added.