A health official draw a sample for Covid-19 test in Chennai. (File photo)
CHENNAI: With the Tamil Nadu government replacing Beela Rajesh with J Radhakrishnan as health secretary and planning to bring in Pankaj Kumar Bansal as Greater Chennai Corporation commissioner, the Covid pandemic management in Chennai is all set for course correction.
Two new people at the helm means the city will re-draft its Covid management plan and hopefully look at its neighbours to draw inspiration. Bengaluru, for instance, has recorded just 617 Covid positive cases (until Friday) and 27 deaths. Here are six things Chennai could do better.
Covid-19: Latest updates
Testing
Testing remains a critical exercise in the interest of larger public health. While 1.22 lakh samples have been tested in Chennai until June 7, in Bengaluru, it is around 50,000. Chennai, which tested 16,903 people per million till June 7, should persist with testing as per ICMR’s Intelligent Testing Strategy and ramp up the numbers from the current nearly 6,000 samples a day in the city instead of bringing it down to quell panic. In mid-May, the government reduced the testing numbers, worried by the surge of cases, drawing flak from health experts. With lockdown in process then, epidemiologist felt that a golden opportunity had been frittered away when testing and optimal early containment could have checked the virus spread to such alarming levels.
Contact Tracing
With Chennai’s geog