Chennai: Not many weeks ago, Kannagi Nagar on the outskirts of the city, which is being viewed as Dharavi of Chennai, witnessed many coronavirus cases.
At that time, it was feared that the pandemic would spread here rapidly, considering the close density of people here. However, cooperation from the public, coupled with swift action from officials, has now set the area free of virus.
“There are very few cases now in Kannagi Nagar. People followed all the rules and cooperated with us very well. This has shown results. Those in other parts of the city should follow people of Kannagi Nagar,” an official points out.
He says that this has been achieved despite the fact that most of the people in Kannagi Nagar are from lower income groups who need to go to work daily to earn their daily bread.
“But they understood the gravity of the situation better than their peers in the so-called upmarket areas of the city and cooperated well with the officials,” sources said.
Interestingly, Dharavi, which was a hotspot of coronavirus not long ago, is now reporting cases in just single digit. With the highest population density of 2,27,136 persons per sq. km, Dharavi had 491 cases in April with the growth rate of 12 per cent when the number of cases were doubling every 18 days.
According to an official release, the proactive measures adopted by the BMC brought down the Covid-19 growth rate to 4.3 per centin May and further down to 1.02 per cent in June.