Taking a dim view of the “spurt” in influenza-like illness (ILI) and severe acute respiratory infection (SARI) cases in some districts, Chief Secretary K. Shanmugam on Monday asked all District Collectors to follow a strategy of “aggressive and focussed testing” for achieving early detection of COVID-19 cases.
Calling upon the Collectors to step up surveillance and conduct fever camps, the Chief Secretary, in a circular, said that in such districts, the “geo-spatial spread” in habitations or streets should be studied to contain emerging clusters effectively by imposing “severe restrictions on movement”. The Collectors should also analyse the source of cases, on a daily basis to work out “appropriate intervention strategies”, the circular said.
Affected streets or habitations with comparatively more ILI cases can be completely screened. “The strategy should be to test all persons with symptoms, without any omission,” Mr. Shanmugam underscored, adding that “persons should be tested even if they have just one or two symptoms” such as fever, cough, sore throat or difficulty in breathing.
If COVID-19 cases are on the rise in slums or other congested areas, “high risk” families can be shifted to quarantine centres. The district administration should focus on “effective contact tracing, containment areas and quarantine management” as key strategies to control the disease, he said.
Attributing the recent spread of COVID-19 in certain districts to people coming from Chennai and its adjoining districts, return of migrant workers and returnees from other States and abroad, he also identified inter-district and inter-zone movement of people as a reason.
‘Early detection’
On bringing down the fatality rate, Mr. Shanmugam emphasised the importance of “early detection and early admission to hospitals”. Focussed testing should also cover the elderly and those with co-morbidities “who are at high risk”.
Collectors must “continuously review” the existing health infrastructure in three verticals — COVID-19 hospitals (for severe cases), health centres (moderate cases) and care centres (mild and asymptomatic cases) — and ramp it up, if necessary. They should also ensure that the number of asymptomatic patients in hospitals is reduced for facilitating the admission of seriously-ill or co-morbid cases. Asymptomatic patients can be accommodated in health centres or care centres.
On the definition of a “containment area”, the Chief Secretary made it clear that it should have “three or more households with positive cases”. There should be “strict perimeter control” with proper supply of essentials through volunteers to the households concerned.
Mandatory wearing of face masks should be ensured and violators should be penalised. Hospitals should be closely monitored for their strict adherence to the standard operating procedure (SOP), Mr. Shamugam added.
