The relaxation of lockdown restrictions has not resulted in any spike in the number of fresh cases of COVID-19 being reported in Chennai, Chief Secretary K. Shanmugam said on Monday.
He made the observations in the context of the city having witnessed a decline in the number of active cases during the period between July 4 and 18.
As of July 4, the tally of active cases in Chennai was 24,195. By July 18, the figure had reduced to 14,997, according to data provided by the Directorate of Public Health and Preventive Medicine.
A similar trend was seen in Chengalpattu district during the corresponding period, with the number of active cases decreasing from 3,023 to 2,328. However, two other neighbouring districts of Chennai – Kancheepuram and Tiruvallur – saw an upward trend, with active cases rising from 1,448 to 2,001 in the former, and from 1,617 to 3,266 in the latter.
Intense lockdown
The four districts had been in a state of “intense lockdown” from June 19 to July 5.
K. Kolanda Swamy, former Director of Public Health and an expert in infectious disease control, explained that Chengalpattu had a relatively longer “geographical continuity” with Chennai than the other two neighbouring districts.
Describing this aspect as a “major influencing factor”, he said that in the case of Chengalpattu, the degree of continuity was around 60%, while Tiruvallur district (excluding Avadi, Poonamallee, Red Hills and Tiruvallur town) and Kancheepuram (except Kundrathur and Mangadu) did not have geographical continuity with Chennai.
However, he pointed out that in Chennai, the daily case tally has remained constant — around 1,200 — for nearly two weeks now. This underscored the importance of people adhering to the norms on proper use of face masks, personal hygiene and physical distancing, he said.
As for the impact of the “intense lockdown” (June 24 to July 15) on Madurai in terms of cases, Mr. Shanmugam said the southern district will also show a trend similar to that of Chennai, though one had to wait for some more time and also look at the data.
The Chief Secretary added that the administration was also trying to carry out pool testing in low-incidence areas to increase the coverage of, and improve planning for, rapid antibody tests among segments of the population like employees of industrial units and frontline workers.
Source: https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/chennai/coronavirus-no-spike-in-cases-in-chennai-after-curbs-were-eased-says-chief-secretary/article32143158.ece
