Restrictions relaxed, Chennai corporation to monitor social gatherings – Times of India

CHENNAI: To keep tabs on large gatherings that can turn super spreaders or clusters, the Greater Chennai Corporation has asked all marriage halls, hotels and auditoriums in the city to keep it informed of the events they host. The civic body will then send teams to ensure Covid-19 protocols are followed.
For vegetable, meat and fish markets, the civic body has begun vaccination drives like at Koyambedu and Kasimedu, where more than 11,000 traders and shopkeepers have been vaccinated so far.
Experts say there are other areas that need to be monitored too. Prabhdeep Kaur, deputy director at ICMR-National Institute Of Epidemiology, said that when the lockdown restrictions were lifted in 2020, the first clusters were identified at office spaces.
“We need to implement better monitoring at the offices across the city. A person should be appointed to report on symptomatic cases and also ensure sanitisers are placed and social distancing is practiced. Like Kerala which is tracking its weddings, the Greater Chennai Corporation has come up with a portal asking marriage halls to register. This will at least help us track all the contacts if there are any virus infections,” she said.
Another major source of infection would be smaller gatherings at home, which can be avoided only through awareness, she said. “Residential welfare associations are already imposing restrictions. This needs to be strengthened with more awareness and some system of monitoring such functions would help us avoid new clusters,” said Kaur.
Corporation officials told TOI that they had doubled the zonal enforcement teams already from 15 to 30. Along with revenue and police officials, the corporation officials will ensure that Covid protocols are followed. A system where residents can complain if Covid norms are violated will also be in place, said an official.
Right now, with cases reducing, and fear of a third wave, Greater Chennai Corporation commissioner Gagandeep Singh Bedi said, they will not let their guard down. “We are continuing to get symptomatic cases from fever camps, fever surveillance workers, private hospitals, CT scan centres and pharmacies. In fact, even on Wednesday we got about 78 cases from pharmacies. So, we will continue these processes. And also come up with new strategies to monitor covid protocols,” he said.