From the first COVID-19 case reported at Arumbakkam on March 17, it took 137 days for the tally to cross the one lakh-mark in Chennai on Saturday. The 15 zones have cumulatively reported 1,00,877 cases.
City Health Officer Jagadeesan said, “The number of cases is declining in Chennai. The daily number has declined from [approximately] 2,300 to 1,074. But we have not reduced containment activity. We are continuing the same vigil. We cannot say the peak has come,” he said.
Highest in Tiruvottiyur
As many as 2,140 residents have died of the disease in the past 137 days in the 426 sq km of the city limits with a population of 87 lakh. The case fatality rate was around 0.7% during the initial days but rose to 2.1% after July.
The case fatality rate is the highest in the Tiruvottiyur and Teynampet zones, touching 2.97%. As many as 321 residents have died in Teynampet and 109 in Tiruvottiyur. The number of deaths has been more than 200 in zones such as Tondiarpet, Royapuram, Thiru Vi Ka Nagar, Anna Nagar and Kodambakkam.
The Sholinganallur zone has registered the lowest number of deaths. The civic body reported 27 deaths on Saturday.
86,301 recover
As many as 86,301 patients have recovered in the city in the past 137 days. A total of 12,436 patients are under treatment as on Saturday, a slight reduction from 12,774 on Friday. Hospitals discharged 1,385 patients and reported 1,074 fresh cases on Saturday.
The highest number of active cases has been reported in the Kodambakkam zone, with more than 1,600. Zones such as Ambattur, Adyar, Teynampet, Thiru Vi Ka Nagar and Anna Nagar have reported more than 1,000 active cases. Valasaravakkam and Royapuram have registered less than 1,000. The other zones have 100-600 active cases.
Manali registered the least number of active cases. The number of containment zones in the city is 56. The Kodambakkam zone has the largest number of containment zones, with 18 streets barricaded. Anna Nagar has barricaded 16 streets and Ambattur 17.
Case clusters were reported in zones like Valasaravakkam, officials said.
Source: https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/chennai/coronavirus-it-has-taken-137-days-for-the-case-count-in-chennai-to-cross-1-lakh-mark/article32250440.ece
