Chennai increases RT-PCR tests as Covid-19 cases increase

With the number of Covid-19 cases on the rise, the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) on Thursday increased the number of RT-PCR tests and accelerated the vaccination drive by identifying people who are yet to take their jabs. The steps came as the Union Health Ministry wrote to the Health Department seeking immediate and proactive steps to prevent faster transmission of the virus.

The cases have been on the rise in the past ten days, especially after the spread of the Omicron variant of Covid-19, prompting the GCC to bring back containment zones within the city limits and the police to impose more restrictions on New Year’s eve.

As part of the efforts to reduce the spread, the GCC increased the number of tests to 25,000 from 22,000 beginning Thursday and asked people to get tested immediately if they report any symptoms. Besides, efforts are on to find out and convince unvaccinated people to take their jabs and those who have missed their second dose to take it without fail.

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The GCC also increased the number of screening centres to facilitate people to get screened for Covid-19. While the first week of December reported 1,088 cases, it went down to 987 in the second week, saw a marginal increase to 1,039 in the third week and a massive spurt in the fourth week with 1,720 cases.

On Wednesday, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan wrote to Principal Secretary (Health), Tamil Nadu, J Radhakrishnan seeking enhanced testing in a focused manner, pro-active contact tracing and isolation/ quarantine of contacts of positive cases, and follow-up.

Bhushan also asked Radhakrishnan to set up containment zones and buffer zones as per extant Standard Operating Procedure (SOPs).

Tamil Nadu has so far reported 46 Omicron cases, with Covid-19 samples of nearly 100 more people showing S-gene dropout. The majority of these people are from Chennai.

The only solace is 86 per cent of the city’s population has been administered with one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine, while the second dose coverage is 58 per cent. Officials said efforts are on to identify the unvaccinated, especially above 60 years of age, and ensure that they get their jabs.

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