Symptomatic persons who test -ve to be quarantined

Chennai

“If the test results are negative but the person shows symptoms and hails from a containment zone, they will be kept under home quarantine. Others will not be quarantined for undergoing tests,” Radhakrishnan told reporters.

Explaining the rationale behind the announcement, Radhakrishnan, who is also the special officer of COVID-19 control in Chennai, added that there is a chance of spreading as the persons undergoing tests tend to meet others until the results are out, which is usually 2 days.

Chennai Corporation Commissioner G Prakash, on Thursday, issued a statement saying that all the persons undergoing tests in city labs and their family members should be under home quarantine for 14 days.

Radhakrishnan took part in the sending off event held at a siddha care centre in Saligramam, from where 30 recovered sent home on Friday.

When asked whether the civic body discourages persons who are willing to undergo tests by issuing ‘home quarantine’ announcement, he said that the testing rate in Tamil Nadu is highest in the country. “Around 6 lakh tests were conducted in the State. In Chennai alone, we have conducted 1.75 lakh tests from May 1. Also, the spike in the number of cases is due to a huge number of tests conducted in the city. Identifying more cases will ensure effective isolation of positive persons,” he added.

Explaining the measures taken by the civic body to control the spread, Radhakrishnan said that of the more than 39,000 streets in the city, positive cases are reported only from 5,210 streets. The civic body has taken focused measures in Royapuram, Teynampet, Tondiarpet, Kodambakkam, Thiru Vi Ka Nagar and Anna Nagar, from where a huge number of cases were reported.