New rule: Quarantine must for person, kin after COVID test

Chennai

According to a Chennai Corporation statement, the decision was taken in a meeting with the representatives of testing labs in the city, on Thursday.

Apart from this, the civic body has directed the testing labs to collect details of all persons taking the test and upload the same to an exclusive smartphone application. There are 18 private labs and 12 government labs in the city. “Labs should also collect details of the contacts of the persons undergoing the test. The details should be sent to the civic body immediately,” the statement said.

When asked Corporation Commissioner G Prakash about the rationale behind the decision, he said that the decision has been taken to contain the spread to the best possible extent with a view to effective management.

Explaining the rationale, a senior official explained that persons might come for tests only after they find some symptoms. “We want to keep a watch on the persons undergoing tests,” he said. He added that the civic body would appoint volunteers for every 15 houses in the city to monitor quarantined persons. Meanwhile, medical experts opined that the move would discourage the public to undergo volunteer tests. “When you quarantine people for simply undergoing tests, they will not visit the labs. This hesitation will result in hypoxia among asymptomatic persons, if they are positive,” a former senior official of the State Health Department said.