Coronavirus Tamil Nadu: 2,600 cases linked to Koyambedu, a wholesale vegetable market in Chennai (File)
Around 2,600 people with links to Koyambedu, a wholesale vegetable market in Chennai that has been declared a coronavirus hotspot, have tested positive for the COVID-19 virus so far, a senior Tamil Nadu bureaucrat told NDTV. Dr J Radhakrishnan, a special nodal officer, said the market became a hotspot despite precautions being taken, but all those who worked at the market have now been tested.
Earlier this week, driven by the surge in cases from the popular vegetable market, Tamil Nadu went past Delhi to become the third-worst coronavirus-hit state; as of Thursday morning it has 9,227 confirmed cases and 64 deaths, with 509 new cases reported in the past 24 hours.
"All Koyambedu workers have been tested; 2,600 were positive for the virus. Overall, spread of coronavirus has been checked with aggressive contact tracing. As many as 2.6 lakh people have been tested. Tamil Nadu's mortality rate is lowest at 0.67 per cent," Dr Radhakrishnan said.
However, Dr Radhakrishnan also said that controlling the virus in urban slums remains a challenge.
"There is no shortage of hospital space, even for severe cases," he stressed, adding that challenges posed by clusters of COVID-19 cases have been "effectively addressed".
Dr Radhakrishnan also said people were being advised not to panic and follow basic rules of hygiene - such as washing hands regularly, wearing face masks and maintaining social distance.
He said lifting of lockdown restrictions - India has been under a nationwide lockdown since March 25 to break the coronavirus chain of transmission - was acceptable as long as people followed the rules.
"There should be 100 per cent behaviour change by people," he said, echoing comments made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal this week, among other leaders, about "learning to live with corona".
Dr Radhakrishnan also explained a shift in the state government's strategy in dealing with the outbreak. He said 70 core areas (each with at least 15 confirmed cases) had been identified from among the 690 containment zones in Chennai. These core areas had been made "water-tight", he said, with cooperation from the Revenue Department, the police and Chennai Corporation officials.
"We had implementation issues, but now we've fixed it," he said.
Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami's government announced major relaxations for non-containment zones in the state starting Monday, including extension of working hours for standalone and neighbourhood shops and allowing private establishments to function, albeit with a reduced number of employees.
This was after a period of "intense lockdown" in five major cities, including state capital Chennai, late last month; these five cities had recorded nearly half of the state's cases at the time.
The national lockdown is scheduled to end May 17, but a third extension of the shutdown ordered in March is widely expected, albeit with modifications based on states' inputs. Prime Minister Modi held a six-hour long video call with chief ministers on this topic this week.
Across India nearly 80,000 COVID-19 cases have been reported, with 2,549 deaths linked to the virus. Worldwide, the virus that originated in China's Wuhan district in December last year has infected 43.47 lakh people and killed nearly three lakh.