CHENNAI: A whopping 138 of the 161 cases reported Thursday are from the city. This includes three firemen and a 26-year-old medical representative, sparking alarm. All the three firemen, sources said, were involved in disinfecting COVID-19 hotspots. “They were attached to Royapuram and Washermanpet fire stations. Two of them lived in a quarters at Mint Street,” a senior officer said.
The trio showed no symptoms. They were identified as part of the testing being conducted for firemen across places. Following this, many firemen alleged they were not provided adequate safety gear. No disinfection activities took place in the fire stations where the three persons were tested positive, they said.
“No deep cleaning has been done at these fire stations since Wednesday. But, we are still being asked to come to work in these premises,” said one of the firemen, on condition of anonymity. “One among the people tested is a writer working at Washermenpet. He handles all the documents in the office since he does data entry. Now, we have to touch the same books to do data entry today. If no action is taken, all of us will test positive.”
More than 30 men are working in these fire stations. They are mostly involved in disinfection activities across the city. Most firemen also complained that proper safety gear is not being provided to them. “A lorry can hold 4,500 litres of disinfectant. The gloves that government provides get torn even before we empty half of the lorry. Similarly, the mask is for one-time use and of not good quality. We prefer tying handkerchiefs around our noses and working instead,” said one of the firemen from North region.
Meanwhile, the medical representative is said to be the contact of a 32-year-old man, who tested positive earlier. “They were colleagues and their office was in Anna Nagar,” said officials. Meanwhile, contact tracing efforts revealed that of all the 41 positive cases reported from Tiru Vi Ka Nagar on Wednesday, only two were new ones. The balance were contacts of earlier reported case from Pulianthope.
Meanwhile, in a statement on Thursday, Corporation Commissioner G Prakash said that 21.49 lakh face masks and 1.01 lakh gloves have been distributed to all the ground-level corporation staff including door-to-door domestic breeding checkers and sanitary workers. “We have a stock of 33.84 lakh face masks and 4.27 lakh gloves. This will be distributed to all the staff as per requirement,’’ he said.
The commissioner said that all the corporation staff are being tested in their respective zones and their safety is being ensured by providing transport and sanitizers. Meanwhile, in Chennai Corporation’s only communicable diseases hospital, 23 people have been discharged so far and 94 people are under observation. The corporation commissioner in a press meet at Ripon Buildings on Thursday said that 98 per cent of people tested positive for COVID-19 in city are asymptomatic.