Covid-19: Second sero survey begins in Chennai – Times of India

CHENNAI: The Greater Chennai Corporation has started the second seroprevalence survey to assess the exposure of the population to Covid-19 infection. The survey in random streets will be carried out for the next 68 days.
This is the second sero survey being conducted in Chennai. The first survey, which was carried out by the National Institute of Epidemiology, found that one in every five persons in the city was exposed to the virus in July, health secretary J Radhakrishnan said on Thursday.
“Post the lockdown, we are carrying out another survey in slum pockets,” Radhakrishnan said while addressing reporters in 23rd NSK Street in Anna Nagar where samples were being collected for the survey.
The survey would be conducted in other districts after 10 days, he added.
Radhakrishnan said though the civic agencies in various districts were carrying out various measures to control the spread of coronavirus, people should wear masks and maintain physical distancing. “Even today, we noticed that at construction sites, workers wore masks. But when they entered the cafeteria and places where they ate together, they did not maintain social distancing. This will result in creation of new Covid-19 clusters. This is why offices are becoming new clusters,” he said.
The civic body will hold fever clinics around workplaces — from 3pm to 5pm and 5pm till 8pm — to reduce clusters, said corporation commissioner G Prakash.
Asked why political parties were not penalised for holding events without ensuring physical distancing, Prakash said the corporation would continue to enforce Covid-19 protocols on everyone.
“Earlier, 95% of the people wore masks, but slowly people are becoming lax. We will continue all the measures such as door-to-door survey and fever clinics intensively for the next few months until there is a decline trend,” he said.
“Mask is the only medicine we have against Covid-19 now, and people should remember that,” he added.