Chennai: In a relief to the Chennai residents, active Covid-19 cases have fallen by 16,000 in the last week.
From 58,311 cases on January 22, the active cases came down to 42,017 on January 28. During the period, the positive rate too has dipped from 25% to 20 %. This means, fewer people are testing positive now for Covid-19, indicating that the spread is waning out.
While all the zones are almost uniformly showing a decrease in cases, some of the zones like Adyar are single-handedly contributing 10% of the city’s total active cases, with 4518 positive cases.
Four zones i the city — Anna Nagar, Teynampet, Kodambakkam and Perungudi — still have more than 3000 active cases each.
Infectious diseases specialist Dr Subramanian Swaminathan said a similar pattern of rise and fall is observed globally and it is no different here. “If the trend continues, by February 15, we may see significantly fewer cases overall,” he said. In Chennai, the ICU occupancy curve remained flat with about 300 to 350 beds being occupied since January 18. “Hospitalisation and mortality trend may show an uptick for a few more days before it falls,” added Dr Swaminathan.
While the containment zones in the city also decreased from 490 to 420 during the last week, experts said that focusing on adolescent vaccination and precautionary dose is the way forward. “The routine containment measures will no longer be useful. Fast tracking vaccination of those aged below 15 is needed,” said Dr Swaminathan.
The future course of containing the virus will be only through vaccination. “The relaxations could be accelerated as the omicron cases are tapering. The Covid-19 pandemic would reach an endemic stage if we keep on vaccinating people,” said virologist Dr Jacob John. “I don’t see a new delta variant coming again soon. Booster dose coverage must be fast tracked for the eligible population,” he added.
Corporation commissioner Gagandeep Singh Bedi said even though the cases were decreasing, the civic body was not lowering its guard. “We will keep engaging Covid-19 volunteers till February 15. The screening centres too will continue till cases reduce further,” he told TOI.
Former director of public health Dr K Kolandaswamy said the field volunteers could be retained for vector-control diseases as well. "The city, apart from Covid-19, has endemic infections like dengue and malaria, which require additional manforce. The corporation must interchange the field staff for control measures of other diseases," he added.
