Chennai: A total of 12,175 people have tested positive for Covid-19 in the city until June 10, but Greater Chennai Corporation has not been able to trace 277 of them, data shows.
Among those whose tested positive, 5,038 were placed in home isolation, 1,850 in private hospitals, 3,289 in Covid care centres and the rest in government hospitals and isolation centres, while efforts are still on to find out the whereabouts of 277 people.
As per the prescribed protocol, details of a person testing positive for the virus at a city lab are sent to the directorate of public health (DPH), which sends them to Greater Chennai Corporation. The civic body begins tracing the patients based on the contact number and the address provided.
In case of the missing 277 people, all efforts at tracing them seem to have been futile. “Even after a field survey, these patients could not be traced. It could be either because the patients gave the incomplete or wrong address and wrong phone number. After all efforts, if we are unable to trace them, we will file a FIR (first information report) with the concerned police station. It is an ongoing process. We will somehow trace them,” said corporation commissioner G Prakash.
A meeting was held with the 18 designated private labs which were asked to update patients’ contact details on the ICMR (Indian Council for Medical Research) portal. “All ICMR approved labs should enter details of patients tested on the portal. Most labs do not do this. We have asked them to ensure that whenever a patient gets tested, the patient fills a form providing their contact details and also contact tracing form in which they enter details of people they may have met in the last 14 days. We also ask them to quarantine themselves for a minimum of 14 days. If the result is negative, then we will test their family as well,” said a corporation official. “This is because it takes two days for the results to come and another couple of days to trace the patient and his/her contacts. We hope we will not lose track of any patient from now.”
Among those whose tested positive, 5,038 were placed in home isolation, 1,850 in private hospitals, 3,289 in Covid care centres and the rest in government hospitals and isolation centres, while efforts are still on to find out the whereabouts of 277 people.
As per the prescribed protocol, details of a person testing positive for the virus at a city lab are sent to the directorate of public health (DPH), which sends them to Greater Chennai Corporation. The civic body begins tracing the patients based on the contact number and the address provided.
In case of the missing 277 people, all efforts at tracing them seem to have been futile. “Even after a field survey, these patients could not be traced. It could be either because the patients gave the incomplete or wrong address and wrong phone number. After all efforts, if we are unable to trace them, we will file a FIR (first information report) with the concerned police station. It is an ongoing process. We will somehow trace them,” said corporation commissioner G Prakash.
A meeting was held with the 18 designated private labs which were asked to update patients’ contact details on the ICMR (Indian Council for Medical Research) portal. “All ICMR approved labs should enter details of patients tested on the portal. Most labs do not do this. We have asked them to ensure that whenever a patient gets tested, the patient fills a form providing their contact details and also contact tracing form in which they enter details of people they may have met in the last 14 days. We also ask them to quarantine themselves for a minimum of 14 days. If the result is negative, then we will test their family as well,” said a corporation official. “This is because it takes two days for the results to come and another couple of days to trace the patient and his/her contacts. We hope we will not lose track of any patient from now.”
