OVER 2.8K CASES BOOKED IN CHENNAI

CHENNAI: A one-day complete lockdown to tackle the rapidly rising COVID-19 cases was enforced across Tamil Nadu on Sunday while police, local and health authorities stepped up measures to check violations.

Be it arterial roads, bylanes, markets or malls, public places in the State were deserted but for the movement of people, cargo trucks and other vehicles linked to essential services like milk distribution or in connection with purposes allowed by the government including health issues. Healthcare professionals and workers, sanitary and civic personnel, continued their routine work.

However, passengers arriving at Central and Egmore railway stations faced a lot of hardship in trying to reach their destinations in the absence of bus services. Auto rickshwas and cab services charged exorbitant rates. Barring flights, suburban and other train operations, bus and other public transport services including the Metro Rail were suspended. Suburban trains were operated here with 50 per cent occupancy.

City police on Sunday booked 2,849 cases of violations till 2 pm on Sunday. While 612 cases were booked under Section 259 of the IPC ( Wandering without reason), 2,176 cases were booked for not wearing masks and 61 cases for not maintaining social distancing. A total of 28 shops which were open violating COVID norms were shut by the Corporation staff and as many as 726 vehicles, 662 of them two-wheelers, were seized.

Additional Commissioner N Kannan told DT Next that the complete lockdown went off mostly without hitches with cooperation from the ublic. “We introduced helplines for both public and police personnel and received over 100 calls which were addressed immediately,” he said. As many as 11,000 police personnel had been posted to enforce the full lockdown on Sunday and there were 189 checkpoints.

City’s active cases rise by 1,100% in 10 days; highest in Teynampet

As the third wave of COVID-19 hits the city, the number of active cases has increased by more than 1,100 per cent over the past few days. Presently, Chennai has more than 20,000 active cases. CHENNAI:

According to data from the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC), the city had as many as 20,369 active cases as of Sunday morning. On December 29, the city had 1,689 active cases, which was 1,105 per cent less than the current number. During this period alone, the city reported as many as 20,545 new cases.

Among the 15 zones, the numbers of active cases are higher in core city zones at more than 2,000. Teynampet has the highest number of active cases at 2,726 and Anna Nagar has 2,584. Kodambakkam and Adyar have 2,307 and 2,265 respectively.

Apart from this, Tondiarpet, Royapuram, Thiru Vi Ka Nagar, Valasaravakkam, Ambattur and Perungudi have more than 1,000 cases. On Saturday morning, only 5 zones had more than 1,000 cases and none of the 15 zones had more than 2,000 active cases.

Meanwhile, the city has the highest test positivity rate (TPR) in the State at 14.2 per cent. On Friday, the civic body had tested as many as 31,994 samples, out of which 4,531 samples turned out to be positive. The TPR on December 29 was 1 per cent.

A Corporation official said the samples were being collected from public places. Samples from contacts of infected persons are also being tested.

Only two other districts in the city have a double-digit test positivity rate—Chengalpattu with 12.9 per cent and Tiruvallur with 10.9 per cent. Meanwhile, the Corporation has asked the family members of COVID patients under home quarantine to wear face masks at all times, even at home, to prevent the spread of the infection.