CHENNAI: With around 21.3% of its population falling under the 'vulnerable' category, Teynampet is a high-risk zone, according to data from a survey conducted by the Chennai corporation.
Teynampet, which has the highest COVID-19 case fatality rate in the city (2.98%), also has the highest number of people suffering from comorbidities.
The city corporation carried out a detailed 'Vulnerable and high risk population survey' to detect vulnerable sections, surveying 61.73 lakh people across all 15 zones who were in the city during the lockdown period.
The survey revealed that Teynampet also had the highest number of senior citizens (above the age of 60) residing in the zone. It had 97,636 senior citizens and 20,040 people with diabetes. A total of 6.12 lakh people were surveyed here.
However, other zones which had similar high populations of senior citizens and those with comorbidities did not have case fatality rates as high as Teynampet.
Alandur zone had the second highest population of senior citizens and comorbidities with 38,144 of 2.43 lakh people surveyed being senior citizens and an overall 21.6% of its population suffering from comorbidities. Its case fatality rate, at 1.39%, was lower than Teynampet's. Kodambakkam also had a high percentage of residents above 60 years of age (15.5%) and about 20.45% of its population had comorbidities. However, its case fatality rate was 1.94%.
When asked the reason, an official in the Teynampet zone said, "Even among the ones that are in the 'above 60 years' bracket, Teynampet has a high population that are between 80-90 years old. That aspect needs to be considered when we are taking the case fatality rate into account."
On the other hand, Tiruvottiyur which had a comparatively lower percentage of senior citizens and people with comorbidities (14.6%) had the second highest case fatality rate of 2.91% in the city.
A senior official monitoring COVID-19 work in the zone said, "About 15% people with comorbidities is still a high number. We are aware that the death rate here is a cause of concern. We are taking all measures to reduce it including early detection."
Meanwhile, Sholinganallur was the youngest zone in the city with a mere 1.89% of the total 2.37 lakhs surveyed being over 60 years of age. Those with comorbidities were also the lowest in the city at
around 3%. Correspondingly, its COVID-19 death rate was also the lowest in the city at 0.75%.
Apart from age, the other comorbidities taken into account for the survey were diabetes, hypertension, combination of both diabetes and hypertension, cancer, heart, kidney, liver and lung ailments.