CHENNAI: From being the biggest COVID-19 hotspot, Thiru Vi Ka Nagar has been consistently reporting fewer number of cases over the last few weeks. Officials attribute the dip in these numbers to rigorous testing, quick and efficient containment among other interventions.
Express talks to officials in all three zones in an attempt to find out what intervention methods worked for Thiru Vi Ka Nagar and why the same could not be carried out to bring COVID-19 cases under control in its neighbouring Royapuram and Tondiarpet zones.
As on Tuesday, Royapuram remained the most affected zone with 4192 cases, Tondiarpet with 3192 cases while Thiru Vi Ka Nagar had slipped to fifth place with 2351 cases. A month ago, on May 6, Thiru vi Ka Nagar had the most number of cases at 395 while Royapuram had 321 and Tondiarpet merely 149.
A senior official working to control the number of cases in Thiru Vi Ka Nagar said that quick containment was one of the most effective measures that worked in favour of the zone.
“Here, by containment, I don’t mean sealing the streets. Without delay, the houses where a positive case is recorded would be immediately sealed with a tin sheet with a small gap for residents of the building to get essential supplies,” said the official.
Initially, this was met with resistance with other residents in the house blaming officials for ruining their livelihoods. So, arrangements were made to provide residents with rice and vegetables free of cost for a period of 14 days. Thiru Vi Ka Nagar was also the first to start a zonal level call centre to listen to any issues those under home isolation may have.
Those under home isolation and quarantine were also given the phone numbers of a Corporation volunteer to help them, ensuring that those who tested positive and their close contacts did not step outside their homes.
“In the slum areas also, cases have come down in the zone. Now, the fresh cases that are being reported are mostly other clusters like frontline workers,” the official said.
However, a senior official working in Tondiarpet said that the zone could not be looked at through the same lens as Thiru Vi Ka Nagar because of its demography.
“There are many dense areas here. In Tondiarpet alone, there are 144 slums,” the official said. Thiru Vi Ka Nagar, on the other hand, had about 94 slums.
Further, Corporation officials found that on an average, there were 6-8 residents in a single house in Tondiarpet.
“In this case, compulsory masking is only possible until a certain extent because they are obviously not going to wear masks when they are dining together," the official said. However, officials said that Tondiarpet had the highest Influenza like Illness (ILI) detection rates. Despite the numbers, the zone has a lower death rate when compared to the other two zones and has active cases in 645 of its 2995 streets.
Meanwhile, in Royapuram, which packs in a population of around 6.5 lakhs in a 42.33-square-kilometre area, officials also said that the cases in slums and population dense areas have reduced to a large extent.
"Royapuram has the highest number of slums of the three zones. We have a total of 175 slums including closely-packed Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board tenements. We have around 52 slums that are mainly encroachments," an official said.
The city corporation has now set up zone-level call centres for all the zones.