The drop in cases in Madurai district has also denoted a fall in the number of people with influenza like illness (ILI) symptoms who approach fever camps, says Collector T. G. Vinay.

In the week between August 4 and 10, 655 patients have tested positive for COVID-19. Out of them, the total number of ILI patients were 174, according to data provided by the district administration. It is roughly around 31% of the cases. This is in contrast to around 33% of total cases exhibiting ILI symptoms between July 28 and August 3.

Deputy Director of Public Health Priya Raj says the 2% drop and consistent stabilisation of cases should be attributed to early identification of cases through fever camps. “We decide the location and the number of fever camps based on where the majority of the previous day’s cases originated. The aim is to identify the wards with positive cases and encourage those in and around the area to come forward and test themselves,” she says. Currently, 70% of all cases are in urban areas and 30% in rural areas.

The Collector says although there is no clustering, lone cases are present in all 13 blocks of the district but are all scattered. “Though, in the initial stages, we saw that the Corporation and peri-urban areas like Tirupparankundram, Madurai East and Madurai West blocks had a number of cases, we have realised now that the 100 odd cases each day are spread out and are few in number. We hope to ensure that the number of cases drop further,” Dr. Priya Raj says.