Chennai case count falling, so are tests at fever camps

Chennai case count falling, so are tests at fever camps

40% Dip In No. Of People Reporting At Fever Camps

Pushpa.Narayan@timesgroup.com

Chennai:  12.07.2020

As Chennai’s Covid-19 positive count drops steadily, public health experts and epidemiologists insist it’s too early to cheer as the number of people turning up at the fever camps in the city has dipped by nearly 40% over the last 10 days. They point out that the infection can spike again if more people aren’t screened and those with symptoms isolated.

The Greater Chennai Corporation and state health department say they test between 9,000 and 10,000 people a day. But what has dropped is the number of people being screened for symptoms. On June 30, for instance, 34,880 people were screened at 537 fever camps and the swab samples of 2,536 were tested. But on July 10, just 2,745 people were screened at 498 camps and 1,508 were tested.

“Good fever surveillance will help us keep active cases low for a fortnight. If we do that, we will be able to flatten the epidemic curve,” said former city health officer Dr P Kuganandam.

Drop in cases good only if testing figures don’t change, says expert

Chennai: “The number has come down because people have started going to work and aren’t at home,” said a health worker who has been assigned to visit at least100 houses in Virugambakkam, where a fever camp was organised on Saturday. “Even during the door-todoor survey we only ask if everyone in the family is healthy. We don’t record the temperature of every family member anymore,” she said.

With the reduction in screening and testing at the fever camps, several zones have reported a drastic drop in the positivity rate. Officials at zone 4, Tondiarpet, said 8% of people in the zone tested in camps were positive on July 8 compared to15% on June 30.

“Drop in positivity rate is a goodsign only when thetesting numbers and targets don’t change. Reduction in symptomatic people indicates that we could be missing out on potential cases. We can’t drop our guard now,” said National Institute of Epidemiology deputy director Dr Prabhdeep Kaur.

“There should be more screening of people in camps now than before,” said senior general practitioner Dr T N Ravishankar of Sundar Hospitals. With change in weather, infectious diseases experts say thereis a spikein the number of people with cold, sore throat andfever. “Many people areout of their homes, and hence there is more chance of infection.Only a testcan ruleoutCovid-19,” he said.

Chennai corporation joint commissioner (health) Madhusudhan Reddy said the civic agency was planning to conduct fever camps in commercial and industrial areas. “These are mobile camps that can go anywhere. We are drawing up a schedule to ramp up testing atfever clinics,” hesaid.