A cluster of 40 cases was identified among employees in an IT company at Perungudi on Monday. According to health officials, initially four cases were identified and when 364 of their contacts were traced and tested another 40 cases were identified, Health Secretary J. Radhakrishnan told reporters on Monday.
A few days ago, Sholinganallur zone officials had notified the Corporation about a resident of Thoraipakkam testing positive for COVID-19. After tracing the contact of the resident on the fifth floor of the IT building in Perungudi zone.
Mr. Radhakrishnan termed it a chain of clusters from one company. He attributed the spread to persons who had moved among the three branches situated in Taramani, Perungudi and Kandhanchavadi. The company was asked to shut down and if not possible then work only with minimal staff.
Greater Chennai Corporation officials disinfected the premises, Dr. Radhakrishnan said.
In the last four days, the Health Department had fined 38,722 people for violating COVID norms, such as not wearing masks and not following prevention protocols and collected ₹83 lakh as fine. The Corporation was conducting fever camps in areas where people gathered in large numbers. The number of RT-PCR tests had been increased to keep pace with the increasing number of infections, he said. The Health Department was conducting random testing. In places where people tend to gather such as at Parry’s Corner and market places, fever camps were held on Monday, the official said.
The Health Secretary said in rural areas with a population of over 1 lakh, 1,589 residences with active cases had been identified. In 57 locations, there were more than three active cases and in 1,532 localities, the number of cases was less than three per location. In urban areas with a population of more than 1.2 lakh, the infection had spread to 3,059 locations. Of these, in 384 locations, the number of cases was over three per residence while in 2,875 residences fewer than three cases each had been identified, he said.
“We are seeing clusters in Chennai, Chengalpattu, Coimbatore, Tiruppur and of course, Thanjavur,” he said.
In Chennai, clusters had been detected in Madipakkam, T. Nagar and Mylapore. There were some rare clusters in Tondiarpet area. When clusters were detected, micro containment efforts were initiated, he said.
Companies shut
The Greater Chennai Corporation has closed seven companies in an IT building in Perungudi zone.
As many as 1,123 samples were taken from from these companies located in a building in Perungudi zone on Monday.
Corporation Commissioner G. Prakash has asked the officials to advise employees to take steps to control the spread of the infection, stressing the need for vaccination. The Corporation aims to increase the number of doses of vaccination to 60,000 a day.
Officials, led by Corporation Joint Commissioner (Health) Alby John Varghese, inspected the building. The building had five floors and 16 companies. Seven of the 16 companies had permitted employees to work on the premises.
