Tamil Nadu screens households in vulnerable areas to prevent coronavirus spread

Wearing safety masks and armed with thermal scanners, field workers go to every household in areas where positive cases of COVID-19 have been reported and screen everyone inside the house for fever and check for any symptoms of fever and cold.

To be precise, 3,698 field workers have panned out across 16 districts in the state, screening nearly 7 lakh persons for symptoms of COVID-19 in 1.82 lakh households since March 29 as part of its massive containment plan. The Health Department has earmarked a 5-km containment zone and another 3 km as buffer zone based on the density of population for the exercise.

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The workers not just screen those inside the houses for fever and look for symptoms, but also provide them with masks and explain them the steps to keep themselves safe. More importantly, the field workers tell senior citizens in the homes not to step out and wear masks if they have cold.

Tamil Nadu Public Health Director Dr K. Kolandaswamy told DH that containment plan is a world-over accepted model to prevent further outbreak of highly contagious diseases like COVID-19.

“The containment zone is the area where patients who tested positive lived. And based on the density of the population, we decide the buffer zone which is 2 km to 3 km. All houses in the containment come into our ambit and our workers go there and screen every person. If any exhibits symptoms we immediately act based on their age and symptoms,” he said.

Since it is a highly contagious disease, Kolandaswamy added, screening of the affected area was imperative to help prevent further spread of the disease.

The job of screening the people began on Sunday and till Tuesday, workers had visited 1,82,815 households and screened 6,88,743 people in 16 districts. As soon as a patient tests positive, the area where he lived is added into the containment plan, another official said.

With the number of cases in Tamil Nadu witnessing massive spike, the government has expanded the ambit of containment plan to include areas where foreigners and those who attended the Tablighi Jamaat Conference in Delhi lived.

To be precise, 66 people who attended the religious conference from Tamil Nadu have tested positive for COVID-19 making it the largest cluster to be affected by coronavirus in the state. The spurt in the number of positive cases prompted the Health Department to include the areas visited by foreigners and those who attended the conference also under the plan.

“We choose the containment plan based on three criteria – positive patients, foreigners and those who attended the conference irrespective of their COVID-19 status. The measure is being taken since several people who attended the conference across India have tested positive for the virus,” he said.