TN to form containment zones around coronavirus positive patients

The Tamil Nadu government has announced that it would form containment zones around the houses of persons tested positive for coronavirus and people living in the zone would be kept under observation.

As the state has reported 41 confirmed cases, Health Secretary Beela Rajesh told the media on Saturday (March 28) that a plan to form these zones would be executed from March 29 in 10 districts, where at least one case has been reported.

As per the plan, containment zones would be demarcated at 5 km radius around the houses of persons infected by the virus. In each zone, a worker — village health nurse or auxiliary nurse midwife or anganwadi worker — will be assigned to 50 houses. Four workers will be led by a supervisor, which could be a doctor.

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These workers will visit the houses in the zone and examine the people there. If anyone is found with symptoms like fever, cough and breathing difficulty, the person would be provided with masks, isolated and diagnosed, Rajesh said.

Especially names of people over 60 years, having diabetes, undergoing dialysis and those under immunosuppressive medication will be noted down, she said, adding that the plan was to prevent community spread of the virus.