On a day when Tamil Nadu recorded 56 new cases of COVID-19, taking the tally to 1,323, Chief Secretary K. Shanmugam indicated that the ‘containment zones’, numbering 388 across 34 districts, might stay in place even beyond May 3, when the extended lockdown is scheduled to end.
Mr. Shanmugam on Friday said that as per the guidelines of the Central government, any such zone would have to continue as it is till the “last reported positive case” of COVID-19 was cleared. There was, therefore, no link between the duration of the lockdown and the continuance of containment zones.
Interactive map of confirmed coronavirus cases in India | State-wise tracker for coronavirus cases, deaths and testing rates
Of the containment zones in the State, rural areas account for 239 of them and urban areas 149, according to data available with the Directorate of Public Health and Preventive Medicine.
For a person who has tested positive to be discharged from hospital, the protocol is that he should have no symptoms, test negative twice and undergo 14 days’ hospitalisation, after which he will have another 14 days of