Chennai: A day after gaining the dubious distinction of occupying second slot in the country in terms of people affected by coronavirus, Tamilnadu government today took some tough measures to further control the spread of the pandemic in the State.
According to sources, police have been asked to implement lockdown measures in the letter and spirit. The move comes after taking note of the fact that too many people are on the roads despite a Statewide lockdown is in force to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
The areas where the families of 1,103 people affected were living were brought under the containment zone under which the 7 km radius from their residence was marked and officials doing checks in each house to find out whether anyone have symptoms of COVID infection. No one is allowed to come out of these areas and no one other than officials are allowed to go inside.
The containment zones in Chennai are Pulianthope, Ennore, Tondiarpet, NethajiNagar, Muthialpet, Pudupet, Purasawalkam, Saidapet and Velacheri.
Meanwhile, the Tamilnadu government has notified as many as 21 State-run hospitals including the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital here, one of the oldest institutions in the country as designated hospitals for treating coronavirus patients.
All the four government run medical college hospitals here, the TN Government Multi Specialty hospital at Omandurar Estate, the RGGGH, Stanley Medical College hospital and the Kilpauk Medical College hospital will cater to Chennai, and adjoining districts of Tiruvallur, Kancheepuram and Chengelpet.
Besides the hospitals here, the government medical college hospitals in 16 other districts including Madurai, Tiruchirappalli, Sivaganga, Vellore, Salem, Erode (IRT Perundurai), Thanjavur and Kanyakumari were designated by the government for treatment of COVID-19 patients.
In Coimbatore, the Government ESI Hospital (GEH) is the designated facility to treat the virus cases and people testing positive from nearby Tirupur and the Nilgiris will also be treated at the GEH.
A government order said that the government hereby directs that all COVID-19 positive cases shall be referred to the above exclusively designated COVID-19 hospitals as soon as the test results confirm positive, without any delay, duly following all transfer protocols as per guidelines of the Centre.
All 37 districts shall have thier own exclusive isolation room for admission and treating influenza like illness and severe acute respiratory illness patients, the order said. In addition, each district should also have one exclusive facility for quarantine purposes preferably inside the health facility, the government said in its order.
With 309 cases, Tamilnadu has emerged as the second state in the country with a large number of positive cases, behind Maharashtra, where the numbers has crossed 400.
City centres: The 9 containments zones in Chennai are
Pulianthope
Ennore
Tondiarpet
Nethaji Nagar
Muthialpet
Pudupet
Purasawalkam
Saidapet
Velacheri