Unwilling to take chances following the emergence of a Covid-19 cluster at the IIT Madras campus, the Tamil Nadu government on Sunday asked district collectors to intensify surveillance and test people with travel history while focussing on ensuring that jabs are given to those who haven’t been vaccinated as yet.
Though the situation in the state is in control so far, Principal Secretary (Health) J Radhakrishnan said in a letter to district authorities, to be “prudent, cautious, guarded” and more importantly, not let the guard down and plan for the effective administration of booster doses of vaccination.
The letter came as daily Covid-19 cases in Delhi, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, and Maharashtra continue to report a spurt and over 55 persons in IIT-M testing positive for coronavirus. Radhakrishnan said the recent Chennai cluster is a pointer to the urgent need to ensure Covid-appropriate behaviour in crowded places.
The top Health Department official pushed for increased surveillance and asked to ensure testing of those with travel history if they develop symptoms. He said the state has enough capacity for free testing in all the districts.
On the vaccination front, Radhakrishnan said the numbers have improved from 4,000 a day last week to 1.43 lakh on April 23. “This is perhaps due to the Chennai IIT cluster and a localised spurt alerting the public about the need not to ignore the mild but definite resurgence of Covid-19 already observed in a few northern states,” he said in the letter.
He also pointed out that over 40 lakh are yet to take the first dose, over 1.4 crore are due their second dose while many of those eligible are yet to take the booster shot. The official asked the district authorities to monitor crowded places.
“Least we can do is to increase the publicity and awareness drive and we should start enforcing fine in places where people regularly flout basic public health measures. In IIT Chennai today, more than 90 per cent have started adhering to the need to wear masks but the lesson is that it should not be after an eruption of a cluster,” Radhakrishnan said.
He also asked them to continue getting reports on the status and preparedness of hospital facilities though so far cases have been mild. “Further, hospital premises are areas where we need to adhere to infection control practices and Covid appropriate behaviour without fail and keep educating and creating awareness,” he said.
Radhakrishnan also said just because symptoms reported are mild, there is a tendency among the public to dismiss Covid 19 and in particular recent Omicron variant as routine cough and cold.
“Public needs to be made aware that once the immunity level comes down and especially among those who are elderly and co-morbid, fatality is high in Europe and even China is reporting fatalities out of Omicron,” he added.
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