Active cases above 100, TN to intensify genomic sequencing

CHENNAI: With Covid-19 cases recording a slight increase, the Directorate of Public Health and Preventive Medicine has assured that there is no need to panic even as it flagged “the lack of adherence to safety measures”. Urging citizens to stay cautious, the officials said it could be because of the low booster dose coverage among the younger age group.

The active cases have crossed 100 once again in the State and Coimbatore has been recording a surge the past few days. The number of cases is also on the surge in Chennai but so far, no major outbreak has been reported in any of the districts.

The cases around two weeks ago were mainly being reported in Chennai, Coimbatore, Chengalpattu and Kanniyakumari, but more districts are also reporting cases of Covid-19 currently.

Meanwhile, the officials from the Directorate of Public Health and Preventive Medicine said there are no new variants of concern and the surge is also not alarming.

“We have not noticed any particular pattern. It is Coimbatore and Chennai where the surge has been reported in the last week. We are going to conduct the whole genomic sequencing of the identified cases as per the standard protocol to find out if any new variant has been active or if any uncommon variant is making a presence now,” said Dr P Sampath, joint director of the Directorate of Public Health and Preventive Medicine.

He said the imported cases are also being screened and tested. Meanwhile, the public has been very negligent about the safety measures such as the use of masks and social distancing. “The surge could also be because the age group of 18-45 did not take booster dose vaccination, which makes them more vulnerable to getting infected. We are monitoring all the cases and testing will also be increased,” added Dr Sampath.↔ More on P6