MADURAI: More than half the people testing positive for coronavirus in the city limits are the secondary contacts of Covid-19 patients, say health officials.
As per Thursday’s report, a total of 16 streets in around 20 wards of Madurai Corporation have been demarcated as containment zones.
After three staff from a nationalised bank located on South Masi Street tested positive for Covid-19, the bank has been closed for three days.
As per a report issued on April 7, as many as 571 of the 707 active cases are in city limits.
Speaking to Express, City Health Officer (CHO) P Kumaragurubaran said that after the restrictions on movement were lifted, those who went to crowded areas, including election campaigns, and travelled across the district were the primary contacts.
“However, earlier, the spread would be limited to one or two persons in the same household but now if one person tests positive for coronavirus in one household, all the secondary contacts including family members are turning positive. There were cases with all 11 members of a household infected with the virus.”
The civic body has not deployed additional manpower for door-to-door surveillance, but has clubbed the domestic breeding checkers (DBC workers) with fever camp teams for surveillance.
“Of the 100 wards in Madurai city, the 20 with the highest number of Covid-19 cases have been taken and swab collection has been intensified,” the CHO said, adding that streets having three or more households with Covid-19 patients are being demarcated as containment zones.
“However, it differs from area to area. Besides, technical assistants from the engineering wing have been deployed at the containment zones to help with purchasing essential commodities,” added the City Health Officer.
This apart, fines are being imposed on those who do not wear masks and maintain physical distancing in public places. Vigil has been intensified at traffic signals.
Share-autos and buses are being monitored keenly, he added.
While an average of 2,000 swabs are being taken for testing every day in the city limits, around 1,900 people are volunteering to get vaccinated at the 31 Urban Primary Health Centres and Amma Mini Clinics in the city limits.
As on April 8, as many as 115 people tested positive for Covid-19 and 789 active cases were reported in the district.
Of this, 147 patients in the city are placed under home quarantine and being monitored through the tele-medicine centre established on the Arignar Anna Maligai campus.