CHENNAI: In the wake of new COVID-19 clusters in Chennai’s educational institutions, the city, for the first time since October end, is again recording a positive case growth.
According to data from Chennai corporation, the city recorded a positive case growth of 0.5 per cent in the last seven days.
This means, the number of new cases being reported have been higher than the number of people discharged.
When the COVID-19 cases were at its peak around June this year, the city saw a case growth of eight per cent.
However, subsequently, the case growth kept declining till the first week of December.
While Chennai has been recording less than 400 cases continuously for almost a month now, officials said the recent spike is due to the clusters formed in the city's educational institutions.
"IIT-Madras and Anna University alone logged close to 200 cases this week. That’s why zones other than Adyar haven't seen any such dramatic surge," the official added.
Presently, zone-13 (Adyar) has a very high case growth of 6.2 per cent, followed by zone-11 (Valasaravakkam) at 2.8 per cent. Kodambakkam, too, has seen a case growth of 2.5 per cent.
Eight of the total 15 zones have negative case growth
Only eight zones of the total 15 have case growth in the negative, with Tiruvottiyur having the least number of new cases lately.
Health Minister C Vijayabaskar on Saturday, during a press meet, said that more than 100 colleges were being monitored for COVID clusters.
He said that all colleges with hostels were instructed to follow COVID-19 norms strictly and warned that action would be taken if they don’t adhere to norms.
"Clusters are likely to occur in isolated places. The corporation's health team would ensure that the clusters are contained by isolating and testing procedures," an official from the department said.
The city now has 3,022 active cases, which is 1.36 per cent, while on the other hand, 2,14,968 people have been discharged, which is close to 98 per cent.
The civic body recently ramped up testing to above 11,000, while the officials said about 8,500 samples of students across colleges have been taken.
“As many as 210 people have tested positive so far,” the official said. Meanwhile, public health experts warn people to stay cautious.
“Asymptomatic spread will remain in society for a while, and clusters like IITM are expected to occur. However, it is a danger only for those above 60 years and those with comorbidity,” said Dr K Kolandasamy, former director of Public Health.
He said youngsters with comorbidity, and conditions such as obesity, asthma, hyperthyroidism and hormonal imbalance must stay careful.
"Only when the immunity spreads up to 60 to 70 per cent of the population, the spread may become less. Till then, we need to stay cautious," he added.
Tondiarpet, Anna Nagar, and Teynampet recorded marginally higher growth rates at 0.2%, 0.2%, and 0.4% respectively, when compared to the city's average.
210 TEST POSITIVE FROM 8,500 SAMPLES
The city now has 3,022 active cases, which is 1.36 per cent, while on the other hand, 2,14,968 people have been discharged, which is close to 98 per cent.
Only eight zones of Chennai Corporation have case growth in the negative.
As many as 210 people have tested positive so far from 8,500 samples lifted from students.