Red flag goes up in Chennai: Two major Covid clusters emerge

A gated community in Sholinganallur in Chennai has emerged as the second major Covid-19 cluster, seen as different from the first one at Kilpauk which was a religious gathering.

As many as 23 people including 15 adults who have taken either single or two doses of Covid vaccine and six children tested positive, according to Dr J Radhakrishnan, principal secretary, health and family welfare department, on Friday.

This second major cluster in Zone15 and Division 197 (two blocks) at the Ramaniyam Gaurav apartments, Model School Road, Sholinganallur, has come as a surprise to the health officials who have been hectically involved in sensitising people on Covid-19 related safety precautions.

A religious gathering at Varadhammal Garden Street near Kilpauk on August 2 at a temple turned out to be a Covid spreader infecting 24 people and leaving a 47-year old woman with comorbid conditions dead. Nearly 300 people had gathered for the annual religious event and even the trustees of the temple contracted the virus, a senior official said.

A total of 398 samples were lifted from the people at Ramaniyam Gaurav apartments and of them 23 people had tested positive. Of them, four were administered a single dose of Covid vaccine while 11 others availed of two doses of the vaccine, Dr Radhakrishnan who inspected the apartments early this morning said.

He was accompanied by Greater Chennai Corporation regional deputy commissioner Simranjeet, zonal health officer Dr Usha, zonal officer Sukumar and other officials.

Six children aged between 1 and 10 years and diagnosed with fever and asymptomatic have been advised home isolation, he told PTI.

During the inspection, it was found that the apartment security personnel were not vaccinated, and the officials erected barricades in the area. Following a complaint by a resident that only the garbage of infected persons was being removed, Dr Radhakrishnan directed the civic officials to put in place a dedicated garbage disposal plan.

After the emergence of two major clusters in the metro, Dr Radhakrishnan directed the district collectors and the commissioner of GCC to take up effective micro containment and also intensify the campaign on masks and be strict on enforcement in crowded places.

"Of late we are having cluster cases. We were witness to a few clusters in Chennai. Effective cluster control has been done by Chennai Corporation. One was a festival cluster and another a gated community,” he said in the communication.

"Like Chennai and neighbouring three districts, cases in Thanjavur and delta districts and Coimbatore and surrounding areas are also not coming down further after relaxations," he said.