In a bid to contain the spread of COVID-19, the Greater Chennai Corporation has increased the number of fever camps from 140 to 300.
Starting Tuesday, the number of residents tested has also increased from 3,500 to 5,000, said a Corporation official.
Owing to a delay in testing residents with symptoms, the Corporation has requested the government for more lab technicians to facilitate testing of residents in various parts of the city.
In addition to 100 lab technicians in the civic body, over 140 lab technicians have already reached Chennai from districts such as Krishnagiri, Vellore and Villupuram.
Many residents had complained to the civic body about the lack of proper testing facilities. Those who were unable to pay for private labs had requested the Corporation to offer free testing in all zones. But the civic body was unable to increase testing because of the lack of manpower.
Across its 40 centres, the Corporation stopped testing residents at 3 p.m. Hence, many had no option but to visit private labs, which offered services beyond 3 p.m. Civic officials said that the services at Corporation centres were expected to improve with the arrival of additional lab technicians sent by the government from other districts.
Token of appreciation
After increasing the manpower for COVID-19 containment, the Corporation, in a tweet on Tuesday, asked residents to tag the picture of civic workers in PPE with the hashtag #GuardiansOfChennai. The officials tweeted: Dear Chennaiites, we are eternally grateful to those who work round the clock to keep #Chennai safe. If you come across any of them, post a picture of them (with their permission) & tag us with the hashtag #GuardiansOfChennai. Let's celebrate our Guardians!
Corporation officials said that 49.1% of those who contracted COVID-19 in the city had recovered.
The percentage of deceased was at 0.9%.
Areas such as Tondiarpet, Royapuram, Kodambakkam, Thiru Vi Ka Nagar, Teynampet, Valasaravakkam, Adyar and Anna Nagar had reported a large number of positive cases.
Added areas such as Tiruvottiyur had also been reporting a large number of COVID-19 cases in the past few days.