Rise in Covid-19 cases in Tamil Nadu, but Chennai sees a downward trend

Speaking to Indianexpress.com, Dr. S Mahalakshmi, Additional City Health Officer, Greater Chennai Corporation, said the increase in vaccination coverage was crucial in bringing down the cases in the city.

She said stringent containment measures, imposing a lockdown on Sundays where people gathered in large numbers in markets and other areas, have all played a pivotal role.

“Vaccination for children between 15-18 and booster doses for senior citizens have played a crucial role in bringing down the cases. Further, we have intensified all the activities. A total of 200 teams are engaged in fifteen zones. They are involved in triage screening and identifying the mild, moderate, and severe cases and provide the necessary guidance. Covid-19 volunteers are playing their part in assisting the people in home quarantine and those in other restricted areas. Those who had tested positive are also provided pulse oximeters in the city, they are instructed to record their values three times a day and if their oxygen saturation level drops below 92, they are immediately asked to inform us and we will take them for further treatment,” she said.

The health officer added they also have a tele-calling facility in all zones to assist the required. She said they used to do around 35,000 tests earlier and now they have reduced to around 29,000 samples on a day-to-day basis.

On January 17, a total of 8,591 cases were recorded and the curve reduced to 8,305 on January 18, and 8,007 on January 19 and 7,520 on January 20.

In Chennai, a total of 6,76,147 people have been infected by Covid-19. As many as 8,011 were discharged on December 20 leaving 62,007 active infections. On Thursday, 14 deaths were recorded in the city, the highest among all districts.

As per the data shared by the Greater Chennai Corporation, among the fifteen zones in the city, as of January 20, the Shollinganallur area (Zone XV) area has the highest per cent of active cases (13.8 per cent). It is followed by Manali (Zone II) with 13.7 per cent , Perungudi (Zone XIV) with 12.9 per cent.

Here’s the Info Graphic summary and Overall zone-wise status of Covid-19 cases in Chennai. #Covid19Chennai #GCC #Chennai #ChennaiCorporation pic.twitter.com/CAgz3kKBsy

— Greater Chennai Corporation (@chennaicorp) January 21, 2022

On the vaccination front, a total of 4,646 people were administered the first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine while 5,296 the second on Thursday. As many as 20,072 people have been administered the precautionary dose.

Vijayanand, a private Covid-19 data analyst who had been keenly following the trend ever since the first wave of the pandemic said the city has hit the peak and in the upcoming days, the cases will come down.

According to the trend since December 24, the city hit the peak by logging 62,512 active cases on January 19. On Thursday, it came down to 62,007 indicating a fall.