JOIN USTamil Nadu to implement COVID-19 containment plan on March 29
Tamil Nadu, which has so far reported 42 COVID-19 positive patients, will embark on a massive containment plan on Sunday to prevent coronavirus spread entering its third phase. The plan will be executed in all districts that have reported positive patients for COVID-19.
Health Secretary Dr Beela Rajesh also said the government has kept 1,000 councilors ready to provide psychological assistance to those under home quarantine and for the general public. The government has also embarked on a drive to identify people who returned from abroad after February 15 and have begun home quarantining them – the figure has increased manifold from 15,000 to 43,000 in one day.
Briefing reporters about the containment plan, Dr Beela Rajesh said the Tamil Nadu government has taken various steps, including designating a hospital exclusively for treating COVID-19 patients in Chennai, to prevent the virus from entering the 3rd stage in the state.
The containment plan, which includes demarcating 8 km zone in the radius of the locality where positive patients lived before being shifted to hospitals. “5 km will be the containment zone and the remaining 3 km will be marked as the buffer zone. One health worker has been allotted 50 houses and every household in the zone will be covered on Sunday,” she said.
The health workers would go door-to-door and check people with symptoms of cold and fever and provide them with masks. People above 60 years of age and those with immunosuppressed conditions will also be identified and provided with masks. “These people, especially the old, will be asked to be under self-isolation,” the Health Secretary said.
The plan will be implemented in Chennai, Salem, Erode, Madurai, Chengalpattu, Tirunelveli, Tiruppur, Coimbatore, Vellore, Kancheepuram, Ranipet, Thanjavur and Virudhunagar districts.
The state has so far reported 42 positive cases, including two patients who have recovered and one dead.