Chief Secretary K. Shanmugam on Friday instructed District Collectors to co-ordinate and ensure that COVID-19 death reports are reconciled on a daily basis.

This will be done in consultation with local bodies so that the reports can be submitted to the Health Department. Sources said he also asked the Collectors to clear over 14,000 cases, whose COVID-19 results have been pending for over 24 hours.

Sources said that at a virtual meeting, he urged Collectors to focus on the daily analysis of data to identify potential hotspots for conducting fever camps.

“In factories and in the case of international passengers, where the number of cases are likely to be less than 5%, he suggested that pooled testing be taken up, so that testing capacity can be put to optimal use,” an official told The Hindu.

The Chief Sceretary also spoke about how some districts were conducting excessive tests and others less. “He instructed Collectors to rationalise testing with better prioritisation. Some Collectors requested repatriation of medical personnel deputed to Chennai. Mr. Shanmugam instructed the Health Department to immediately examine such cases and find a solution,” another official said.

Collectors were also instructed to take the help of community leaders and volunteers in containment areas to impress upon the need for observing preventive measures.

Mr. Shanmugam also wrote to Collectors mandating the daily reconciliation of COVID-19 death reports so that the State-level committee, constituted on Wednesday, could continuously scrutinise and reconcile the death reports, on a weekly basis, to avoid omission in the future.

Comparing data

Collectors must verify daily COVID-19 death reports from government and private hospitals and compare it with the cremation/burial records of local bodies to ensure there is no omission, the Chief Secretary said.

The Directors of Medical and Rural Health Services and Medical Education and Public Health and Preventive Medicine must instruct hospitals accordingly, so that ICMR and central guidelines on the issue are followed.

Commissioner of Revenue Administration K. Phanindra Reddy, Health Secretary J. Radhakrishnan, Public Secretary P. Senthil Kumar and other senior officials attended the meeting.