Corporation to screen all houses in Chennai from today

CHENNAI: Changing its 'micro' plan, the city corporation is likely to begin on Thursday a door-to-door screening for flu-like

symptoms

across all 200 wards, to break the chain and ensure "asymptomatic" people with domestic/international travel history don't infect family members, particularly the elderly, during the lockdown.


Two days after rolling out an urban "micro" plan for containing the viral infection, public

health

experts of the agency that's responsible for the city said they decided to extend the programme to all residents. "We will recruit 10,000 volunteers, including from self-help groups, to visit people's houses. They will collect information on international or travel history, ask

residents

if they have symptoms of cough or fever and counsel them," said deputy commissioner (health) Madhusudhan Reddy. Enumerators will maintain adequate social distancing so they do not become sources of infection. "They are only screening people, not testing. If people need to be examined they will be referred to the nearest urban health planning centre," he said.

On Saturday, health secretary Beela Rajesh announced that district administrators would demarcate a 5km radius containment zone around homes of Covid-19 positive people and a further 3km radius buffer zone in 10 districts.

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