Curbs in COVID-19 containment areas around Tamil Nadu to be intensified
Urging folks not to imagine hearsay a few complete lockdown after polling on April 6, Health Secretary J. Radhakrishnan on Monday mentioned restrictions will be tightened in COVID-19 containment areas.
Restrictions will regularly be enforced for non-essential actions primarily based on authorities’s coverage choices and views of public well being specialists. “Some steps should be taken without affecting the public and with public cooperation we can avoid an out-of-control situation like Maharashtra. Of the 4.5 lakh areas, there are 925 containment areas that had more than three COVID-19 cases. Restrictions will be tightened in these areas. We will have focus volunteers and take up testing,” he instructed reporters shortly after an inspection on the State Vaccine Store.
He mentioned folks ought to study to keep away from crowding at funerals, marriages and cultural occasions, and keep away from pointless journey. Starting April 7, the day after polling, he mentioned door-to-door fever surveillance in containment areas and screening centres for triaging of COVID-19 sufferers would be taken up in full swing.
Noting that there have been over one lakh COVID-19 circumstances in India on Sunday, he mentioned that in Tamil Nadu, the circumstances have been rising regularly however the positivity fee was not as excessive because it was in Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh and Punjab, he mentioned. “Nevertheless, the numbers are slightly alarming and we have crossed 3,500 cases a day. There is continuous monitoring, and we are ensuring that there is no lacunae in testing, tracking and isolation. A minimum of 20 to 30 contacts of a patient are being traced, tested and isolated,” he mentioned.
One of the primary challenges was home to home fever surveillance in containment areas, he mentioned and added: “Starting April 7, we will take up house-to-house fever surveillance in containment areas in full swing. We did not carry out the same to avoid creating confusion during election time. The field-level teams in each of the 15 zones of Greater Chennai Corporation and monitoring teams at the district-level are in place,” he mentioned.
Mr. Radhakrishnan mentioned that COVID-19 Care Centres had been began in all districts. Taking into consideration the 5 hospitals in Chennai — Government Corona Hospital, Government Medical College Hospital, Omandurar Estate, Government Kilpauk Medical College Hospital, Government Stanley Medical College Hospital and Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital — 1,869 individuals have been admitted, whereas the full mattress capability was 4,368. “Persons are directly going to the Government Corona Hospital. Those with mild symptoms can go to CCCs. After April 7, we will have 10 screening centres from the present three for triaging patients. Not all patients need to be treated in hospitals and doctors will decide on that,” he mentioned.
Slow tempo of vaccination
Another space of concern was vaccination. The State has to this point acquired practically 54 lakh doses of the vaccines however the off-take had been low, he mentioned. Only around 15,000 folks have been vaccinated on Sunday.
“The disease is on the rise. All those aged above 45 should take the vaccine. We could not promote vaccination on campaign mode due to the model code of conduct. However, after April 7, we will take up this on a campaign mode to motivate people who are eligible to get vaccinated… Some might get infected after vaccination. It is said to have 70 to 85% efficacy 14 days after the second dose. In such cases, it will not be a severe case of COVID-19,” he mentioned.
Noting that vaccine hesitancy continued in the State, he mentioned that neighbouring Kerala and Karnataka had extra takers than T.N. The common capability of a vaccination centre was 100 individuals a day.
On a median, RGGGH and Government Medical College Hospital, Omandurar Estate, vaccinate up to 500 individuals a day however in many cities, districts and rural elements, solely 25 to 40 individuals are vaccinated, he mentioned.
“The Centre’s supply of additional doses depended on the three-day average utilisation. States that have higher utilisation such as Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Odisha, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh are getting more vaccines supplied. There is a view that we are not utilising the already supplied vaccines,” he mentioned.
So far, 4.25 lakh doses of Covaxin and 28.30 lakh doses of Covishield have been utilised, he mentioned. The State has until now acquired 7.8 lakh doses of Covaxin and 47.43 lakh doses of Covishield.
Daily evaluation until April 4 confirmed that Chennai’s take a look at positivity fee was 8.01%, Ranipet 7.39%, Theni 6.85%, Coimbatore 6.17%, Chengalpattu 5.53%, Tiruvannamalai 5.38% and Salem 5.07%.
Positivity fee
“Except for these seven districts, the remaining have a lesser positivity rate. As per the Centre’s direction, we should bring down the positivity rate to below 5%. We should do additional tests for which fever camps will come in handy. The Corporation on an average conducts 500 camps a day, while in districts, 100 camps will be held where additional tests will be carried out. Attention will be given to all other districts with above 2% positivity rate. Only Tirupattur has below 2% positivity rate,” he mentioned.
Due to lack of adherence of SOPs corresponding to checking for temperature and hand hygiene in locations such because the service sector, the illness was spreading from one particular person to many. “Elections were a challenge, but do not assume that cases would drop after April 6. We have had cases through banks, service sectors and training centres,” he mentioned. He mentioned though colleges have been closed, coaching centres have been being run illegally.
Director of Public Health and Preventive Medicine T. S. Selvavinayagam was current.