Anna univ to develop grids for Covid-hit areas

Ragu.Raman@timesgroup.com

Chennai:09.04.2020

In an effort to boost its micro containment plan, the health department is using Anna University’s technical expertise to mark a grid that would help estimate households which would come within the containment zone and buffer zone around the epicentre. Experts from the university’s Institute of Remote Sensing (IRS) will prepare grids for more than 700 Covid-19 cases in Tamil Nadu and also for cases with symptoms to contain the virus spread.

The university will also share its GIS database with the health department for better containment. Currently, the government is putting under quarantine streets or roads where Covid-19 positive cases are found.

“We will mark the location of Covid-19 affected areas in Geographic Information System (GIS) map based on the data given by state health department. A team of health officials would decide on the buffer zone, containment zone,” said IRS director S S Ramakrishnan.

Based on the GIS map, health department officials can also mark the possible directions in which the virus can spread. “If there is a patient on a street, we can easily map the surrounding areas where he or she would have accessed for possible spread. This map would be useful to police and local body authorities to mark containment zone and buffer zone,” he said.

For example, if authorities want to quarantine people residing within a 500 metre radius around an epicentre, the digital mapping would accurately map even the details of street and houses where the access needs to be restricted.

It is likely to be integrated with the mobile platforms. The GIS map of Covid-19 cases likely to be made available to members of the public.

Other data like population density, the location whether it is urban or rural also can be integrated with the GIS map. “They can find out a different solution for each grid separately based on its location,” Ramakrishnan said.

The health department has already prepared a GIS map with the help of the state’s e-Governance Agency. To prepare an accurate map for prediction and containment, officials have sought the help of remote sensing experts from Anna University.

The health department is also using the expertise of professors from IIT Madras in analysing the spread of the virus and containment activities.