Chennai: With the IIT-Madras emerging a new Covid-19 cluster with a breakout of fresh cases, Health Minister Ma Subramanian said the infection is expected to have spread through the college mess and now the food is being served to the students to their respective rooms in the hostels.
Allaying the fears of the people, the Minister said only about 2.9 percent of the samples have tested positive for Covid.
Subramanian attributed the rise in cases due to people’s complacency in not
following Covid protocols by not wearing masks.
Stating that the government would resume holding a massive vaccination camp, he said about 40 lakh people have not taken the first dose and 1.4 crore second doses are to be administered. Overall, two crore doses are to be given.
Health Secretary Dr J Radhakrishnan has written a letter to all the District Collectors and Commissioner of Greater Chennai Corporation to ensure the enforcement of Covid appropriate behaviour in crowded places.
He stressed the need to increase surveillance and ensure that self health
monitoring and testing is advocated.
‘If people with travel history develop symptoms, they and their contacts should be subjected to RT-PCR test, positive people isolated and provided treatment. Till results come tested people should be advised to self isolate and monitored. Those testing negative initially also should keep monitoring their health and in case of developing symptoms at any later point of time subject themselves to test’, the Health Secretary said in the letter.