CHENNAI: Even though an average of 1,500 cases are being reported every day in the city, seven corporation zones have been removed from the containment list. This includes the most-affected zone till date —Royapuram. The six others are: Thiruvottriyur, Manali, Madhavaram, Valsaravakkam, Alandur and Adyar.
Only on June 15, the city had 369 containment zones with Royapuram having the most — 78. Now, the entire city has a mere 61. While the new guidelines have played a vital role in the de-listing of areas, officials say the major reason for the change is the explosion of cases within certain areas in these zones. “Hence, we have shifted to a micro-level strategy,” said one official.
As per the revised guidelines, there must be at least five index cases for a street to be contained. That street would be de-listed if it does not record a new case in the next 14 days. Earlier, the de-listing happened only if there were no new cases for 28 days. “The new strategy is helping us stop cases at the ward level. Survey staff also ensure that people in barricaded houses don’t step outside.”
A special task force was formed recently to implement the micro-level containment. The micro-level strategies involve door to door fever checks up, setting up ward-level fever camps, and identifying vulnerable and elderly population and shifting them to care centres, if they have any symptoms.
The civic body has also appointed school teachers to monitor the process. The teachers have to submit complaints to the police regarding violation of quarantine.Meanwhile, Royapuram still has close to 1,000 streets with active cases. However, zone 5 officials pointed out that the zone is very big, starting from Royapuram and covering vast parts. “Active cases can be due to the size of this zone. It does not indicate intense spread or clusters,’’ the official said.
Apart from this, many more areas are likely to come out of containment soon. Tiru Vi Ka Nagar has six containment zones, Ambattur has two, Teynampet has three, Perungudi has two and Sholinganallur has four. Currently, Tondiarpet poses to be a challenge for the Corporation as the zone only had eight containment zones last week but now, even as we are in lockdown, it has reached to 24.
Corporation Commissioner G Prakash said about 7,500 streets in the city have active cases. “However, there has been no outbursts or a cluster for the past 45 days. This means the containment strategies are working well,’’ he said.
