Coronavirus | Just 6 zones, but with 72% of Chennai’s cases – The Hindu

The facts are clear: six zones in the city — Tondiarpet (zone 4), Royapuram (5), Thiru Vi Ka Nagar (6), Anna Nagar (8), Teynampet (9) and Kodambakkam (10) — are contributing the bulk of COVID-19 cases. Of the 31,896 positive cases, 23,011 are just these six zones, constituting, as on June 14, a whopping 72% of cases in the city.

On that day, the number of cases in these six zones was 51.5% of the 44,661 cases recorded across Tamil Nadu. Of the six zones, Royapuram tops with the maximum number of cases — nearly 5,300.

Geographically, these zones form a cluster in the city — zones 4, 5, 6, 8, 9 and 10 are closely packed. The areas are also contiguous and a containment or lockdown could well have been implemented successfully in a circle that emcompassed these areas alone. In fact, it is learnt that it was also among the proposals placed before the government, which decided in favour of a stricter lockdown for the entire city. Experiences in the past have shown that while cases do go down during a lockdown, they go straight back up after restrictions are lifted. Many countries, including China and South Korea, have seen a fresh round of cases, not long after lockdowns are lifted.

A boon?

Some epidemiologists think that concentration of the bulk of cases in a contiguous geographical area is a boon — in terms of the ability to address issues effectively. A more expansive spread of over half the number of cases in the State would actually make the task of the government even more difficult than it currently is, one expert said.

Prabhdeep Kaur, deputy director, National Institute of Epidemiology, an Indian Council for Medical Research unit, said a focus on the big-burden ones is necessary. “We need street-level micro-planning now. We need testing for all those who are symptomatic, including those going to the private sector.” There are about 7,000 streets that are technically under the radar of the Corporation and Health department. Distributing resources to achieve the above goals in these areas would have to be done efficiently.

Former Corporation City Health Officer P. Kuganantham said that infections are bound to increase. “Let’s not be so worried about rising infections at this stage, rather with how we treat the infection in our hospitals. Is there good care for COVID-19 patients? Is the triage being done properly? Government hospitals, tertiary care centres, should be reserved for patients with symptoms and those who are critically ill. The others can go to COVID care centres, or be quarantined at home, with remote monitoring,” he added. He also recommended setting up hospital-level expert committees to study the latest in triage, treatment and laboratory practices in order to keep up with the latest trends.

Health secretary J. Radhakrishnan said that the idea behind the lockdown for the entire city was to prevent cases from these zones spilling over to nearby areas and causing clusters of infection there. “There are people who are related or who work in North Chennai going back home, to say Tiruvallur, and transmitting the infection there. We need to control this.”