Greater Corporation Commissioner G. Prakash on Friday said that 15% of COVID-19 deaths in the city could have been avoided had symptoms been reported to civic officials.
Speaking to reporters, Mr. Prakash said that an analysis of fatalities due to COVID-19 in the city had shown that lives could have been saved if symptoms had been reported by residents during fever surveillance by 11,000 civic workers at their doorsteps.
“Fever surveillance is an important strategy. We request residents to report symptoms in time to prevent COVID-19 deaths. As many as 501 deaths have been reported in the city,” said Mr. Prakash. The Corporation has started fever clinics at 500 locations in the city. The civic body has also set up COVID-19 testing facilities at 40 locations. All residents will be permitted to walk to the testing centres during the lockdown.
Spike in death rate
According to the data shared by the Corporation, the death rate has increased from 1% to 1.3% in the past few days.
As many as 2.1 lakh residents have been tested in Chennai using RT-PCR kit as per ICMR guidelines. A total of 37,070 residents have tested positive, though 55% of them have been discharged from hospitals.
