CHENNAI: The panic is visible in Chennai. With the city recording 103 positive cases on Tuesday and 94 on Wednesday, officials are gearing up to intensify containment measures. A substantial number of cases reported on Wednesday are from three zones: Tiru Vi Ka Nagar (34), Teynampet (25), and Anna Nagar (12).In Tiru Vi Ka Nagar, only four are fresh cases. The remaining are contacts of previous cases. In Pulianthope, 10 more of the family that held a joint prayer session amid lockdown have tested positive. Already, 15 members of that family are under isolation after they tested positive for the virus.
In Nochikuppam, a 38-year-old resident working as a pharmacist with a Primary Health Centre in Pudupet has tested positive. The PHC has now been shut down, and officials are tracing all patients who might have come in contact with him. More cases are being reported from Koyambedu Market. A 50-year-old woman, working as a sweeper there, has tested positive.
Her pregnant daughter-in-law, though negative, has been put in isolation. A family of four, including a couple running a store, have tested positive in Mandaveli. Officials suspect they could have contracted the virus from Koyambedu Market, which they used to frequent to get supplies. Officials are now tracing his regular customers.
Food delivery agent positive
A 36-year-old man working as food delivery agent with Swiggy in the city has tested positive. He is the son of a 65-year-old man who died of COVID-19 on Wednesday. The delivery staff was working in Chennai till April 23, and was quarantined on April 24 along with his family members. Officials say all other members of his family, but him, are negative. He was the only one visiting his father in the hospital, and he could have caught the infection there, they added. The city corporation has made a list of 64 houses, where he made deliveries in the last 10 days, and contact tracing is underway.
When contacted, a Swiggy spokesperson told Express that they are working with health authorities and extending cooperation in all possible ways. A statement released from their end said, “As per the latest update, we are relieved that his brother and 5 other family members have all tested negative and have been cleared and are currently quarantined for safety. Following our predefined protocol, the delivery partner was immediately quarantined as soon as the incident was discovered and he is currently in the good care of health authorities.”
Focus on high priority areas
Corporation Commissioner G Prakash, in a press briefing on Wednesday, said the focus would be on Tondiarpet, Royapuram, Thiru Vi Ka Nagar, Anna Nagar, Teynampet and Kodambakkam zones which have registered a high number of cases. “In Chennai, around 22,000 samples have been taken of which only 673 have tested positive. These are not random samples but from contacts of positive patients.”
Prakash said 95 per cent patients in the city were asymptomatic, and the recovery rate is high.
“The mortality rate in Chennai is among the lowest in the country,” he said. Testing will be increased from 1,250 a day to 2,000. From Koyambedu, 200 samples have been drawn of which six were positive, he said. Retail vending of vegetables will be shifted from Koyambedu to the City Corporation’s 240 playgrounds.For 44 cases in the city, a direct link to the virus could not be initially drawn out based on the information provided by the patients, who may sometimes withhold information due to stigma. For this, two special teams are at work to question them further for links, he said, adding that there was nothing to suggest community spread in Chennai so far.
Till now, 1,09,961 samples have been taken. Among them, as many as 2,162 persons tested positive and 1,05864 tested negative.Testing of 1,935 samples are under process and 8,886 samples are repeat samples of same persons. The tests are done in 33 government and 11 private labs all over Tamil Nadu. As on date, as many as 30,580 people are under home quarantine for 28 days. A total of 48 are at government quarantine facilities and 1,821 are under hospital isolation.
Source: https://www.newindianexpress.com/cities/chennai/2020/apr/30/chennai-197-cases-in-two-days-no-community-spread-2137235.html
