Around 3% of those who returned from abroad have tested positive for COVID-19 in the city. Greater Chennai Corporation Commissioner G. Prakash said on Sunday that the civic body has detected SARS-CoV-2 infection in 381 persons from among those who returned to the city from abroad.
Of the 12,709 returnees from abroad, 11,406 have completed institutional quarantine.
“We have not permitted all flights into Chennai. But we have permitted a limited number of flights. We received all passengers and tested them before compulsory quarantine in hotels. The paid quarantine is ₹2,500 a day. At present, 1,303 passengers who arrived in the city by flights are under paid quarantine,” said Mr. Prakash.
Stressing the need for proper monitoring of passengers for at least 14 days after their arrival in Chennai, Mr. Prakash said the rule was to test the swabs lifted from passengers by RT-PCR after arrival, monitor them for seven days under institutional quarantine, repeat the swab test after seven days before deciding to send them for seven days of home quarantine. If the passenger tests positive after the institutional quarantine, the civic body will screen the person before sending to tertiary care hospitals or COVID-19 care centres, based on the condition of the patient.
The Corporation had made similar arrangements for rail passengers.
Claiming that the current positivity rate of air passengers was a cause for concern because of varied strains of the virus from other countries, Mr. Prakash said the positivity rate in the city’s northern areas such as Royapuram and Tondiarpet, which were hotspots, had reduced to 5%. But the central parts of the city such as Anna Nagar, Teynampet and Kodambakkam and the southern parts such as Adyar had registered a higher positivity rate of 20% to 22%. The average positivity rate for the entire city was 12%, said Mr. Prakash.
Distribution of aid
The Corporation has started distribution of a cash assistance of ₹1,000 each to 59,679 persons with disabilities in the city. “We will conduct a field survey of persons with disabilities in all streets. The original database does not have correct information. Many have shifted to rental accommodation in other areas. We will get all information by this month-end to help persons with disabilities during the pandemic,” said Mr. Prakash.
The Corporation has distributed a cash assistance of ₹1,000 each to 14,663 street-vendors. The city had 38,000 street-vendors, Mr. Prakash added.
