Violators in Tamil Nadu to be sent to institutional quarantine

CHENNAI: The special nodal officer coordinating with the Chennai Corporation in Covid-19 control measures, Dr J Radhakrishnan, and  the civic body Commissioner, Mr. G Prakash, warned violators of rules in containment zones (CZ) with serious consequences, as total number of persons testing positive for coronavirus in Tamil Nadu shot up to 27,256 on Thursday, of which Chennai alone reported a new high of 1,072 cases.
 

Expressing dismay at persons walking in and out of CZ areas freely at a time when Chennai has been going through a critical phase in containing the spread of the disease, Dr Radhakrishnan said such violators "will be caught and taken straight to an institutional quarantine." The city police commissioner AK Viswanathan was also present when the senior officers were talking to the media after visiting some hot-spots in the city today.

Dr Radhakrishnan made it clear that the comfort of self-isolation and home quarantine may not be available to all, unless the Corporation officials were satisfied that necessary pre-conditions for the same were fulfilled. "We are taking all vital steps to stop the spread of coronavirus in Chennai and people should cooperate with the government and necessarily wear face masks for at least a month to end the virus spread," the nodal officer said.

Prakash hinted that the civic body might be constrained to take all persons testing positive for Covid-19 in any CZ, to 'isolation camps' near the city in lieu of home quarantine, if people violated the CZ rules. However, Dr Radhakrishnan, intervened to say there was no such proposal now, adding, persons getting tested in private labs should furnish details of their 'Aadhar' card, mobile phone and full address to enable contract tracing.

The overall Covid-19 statistics for Tamil Nadu continued to be on a steep upward curve on all key parameters today. While the total number of persons who tested positive on Thursday alone touched a dizzy 1,384, which included 11 incoming persons from abroad and other states, the health department confirmed 12 more deaths today, to take the state's death toll due to the virus to 220.

The death of a 17-year-old girl from Chennai, who died at the Rajiv Gandhi Government general hospital made for a very sad reading, perhaps one of the youngest Covid-19 victims till date. Though testing positive for the virus, she died of multiple causes including cardiopulmonary arrest and kidney injury. The death cases confirmed today also included a 25-year-old female from Vellore and a 33-year-old woman from Chennai, among others.  
 

Meanwhile, Rajendra Ratnoo, heading a three-member medical research team of the Central government, after a meeting with the Chennai Corporation officials said that they will be studying and analysing various aspects of the coronavirus disease management and control in Chennai, Kancheepuram, Chengalpattu, Thiruvallur, Ariyalur and Cuddalore districts, particularly to map the extent and direction of Covid-19 infection spread. He said people should not fear the rising numbers as the testing was much higher here. Some 16,447 samples were lifted for testing today alone.