Containment measures initiated in 378 streets of Chennai
CHENNAI: Containment measures are currently being initiated in 378 streets in the city, to prevent the spread of Covid-19 and the emergence of large clusters, the city corporation’s containment report as on Sunday, shows. The Corporation treats streets or houses with three or more index cases or with two or more affected families as containment zones. However, unlike earlier, ‘water-tight’ containment with strict restriction of movement in the streets is not being followed. Instead, containment is now down to the house-level, said senior corporation officials.
As of now, there are 4,163 houses across all 15 zones of the Corporation where Covid-19 cases have been identified. The Teynampet zone has the highest number of such houses (553) on 84 streets including Luz Avenue in RA puram, CIT Colony Second Main Road in Royapettah and Quaid-e-Millath Road in Chepauk. In Royapuram, 401 houses on 56 streets including Ritherdon Road, Choolai and Periyar EVR Salai in Purasaiwalkam have been categorised as containment zones.
In the Adyar zone, Velachery Main Road, Besant Nagar 5th Avenue, PWD quarters in Saidapet, Burkit Road and Kasthurba Nagar Second Main Road are listed as containment zones. Shanthi Nagar Main Road in Nanganallur and Kakkan Nagar First Street in Adambakkam are contained in the Alandur zone, among others. Veerasamy Salai in Perungudi, Sadasivan Nagar Third Main Road and Thilakar Avenue Third Cross Street have been contained in the Perungudi zone among other streets and Copper Beach Road in Sholinganallur and Kumarasamy Nagar in Injambakkam in the Sholinganallur zone are also among the streets listed.
For the 5,198 active cases as on Sunday, 5,757 samples from contacts and symptomatic residents nearby were collected, of which 238 turned positive. Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Corporation Commissioner G Prakash said that the clusters that exist at present are all localised clusters and are not of an explosive nature. Naming a few, he said that 30 of 54 staff at a jewellery store in the city had tested positive and in Kasturba Nagar, a cluster of 10 people who had a travel history, had recently emerged.
On the beds available, he said that a 6,000-bedded facility is currently in operation in Athipattu. “Even at the peak of last year, the maximum occupancy was only 5,800 against the 23,000 capacity that we had,” Prakash said.
Election arrangements
Prakash, also the District Election Officer, reiterated that those currently under home quarantine after testing positive for Covid-19 will be given PPE suits and may be taken to their nearest polling stations to cast their votes in the last hour (6-7 pm). “Those interested may communicate their needs to the sanitary inspector who will make the necessary arrangements,” Prakash said.