After focusing on the poor and working-class areas in north Chennai which were the hotspot of the pandemic in the initial days, the attention has now shifted to the middle-class neighbourhoods in central parts of the city, especially Kodambakkam that now have the most number of active cases and the worst recovery rates.
Chennai:
Earlier, north Chennai zones such as Royapuram, Tondiarpet, and neighboring Thiru Vi Ka Nagar in central Chennai zone had the most number of cases, prompting the civic body to concentrate more on those areas.
"Due to the dense population and a large number of slum areas, cases in Royapuram and Tondiarpet zones were rapidly increasing. We conducted several community intervention programmes to control the spread. Now, cases are emerging from middle-class neighborhoods in Kodambakkam, Anna Nagar, and Teynampet zones," said an official.
Among the 15 zones, Kodambakkam in central Chennai region has now become the worst-hit zone with the highest number of active cases as on Monday morning – 2,497 out of the 17,469 active cases in the city. Also, the 70 per cent recovery rate there is the worst in the city, show data from the Corporation.
The containment zone data released the civic body also suggest the higher prevalence of active cases in Kodambakkam. Among 278 containment zones in the city as on Sunday, 134 are there. The Corporation would convert a street into a containment zone if three families get infected. Also, Kodambakkam's growth rate of new cases of -4.2 is the highest in core city zones and higher than the city average (-7.2).
Anna Nagar and Teynampet zones neighbouring Kodambakkam have 1,849 and 1,651 active cases respectively as on Monday morning.
The Koyambedu wholesale market complex that falls within Kodambakkam zone was the main reason for the initial surge of cases. After that, more cases are being identified through the fever camps. Among the city zones, camps at Kodambakkam recorded the highest footfall. Between May 8 and July 12, as many as 1,11,880 persons had visited the camps, of whom 3,344 were identified with influenza-like-illness symptoms (ILI).