CHENNAI: Royapuram, the zone hardest hit by coronavirus, is witnessing a shift in containment strategy. Focused testing is the new mantra of civic body officials here as they concentrate on testing more vendors. A senior official monitoring containment measures in the zone told Express that vendors are being focused because they may be point of contact for many Covid-19 patients.
As per the strategy, around 80 to 100 of total 4,400 streets in the zone are classified each week as ‘focus streets’, where mass disinfecting and testing are done, with a special focus on vendors. Officials claimed this method has worked to their advantage.
“Earlier, the total zone-wise testing was about 200 per day. Now, the city corporation alone is conducting around 500 tests a day, besides the samples lifted at private labs and hospitals,” the official said.
With a tally of 7,659, Royapuram has highest number of Covid-19 cases in the city. While the city corporation has tripled the testing, number of cases have largely remained same, he added.
“When testing was low, we used to record around 200 cases a day. The number remains same even now. It’s a good sign that things are under control,” the official added. The zone also has a higher recovery rate despite high case load, with 70 per cent of total patients already recovered. It has a death rate of 1.70 per cent and 2,153 active cases, according to data released by the city Corporation.
The higher case load in the zone has been attributed to several dense clusters which help the virus spread quickly.
Best practices followed in other zones like Tondiarpet and Thiru Vi Ka Nagar are also being followed here. “Increased testing and effective quarantine are what helped in controlling the virus,” the official said.