The Greater Chennai Corporation is set to intensify measures to quarantine people who reach the city from other districts and States.
Municipal Administration and Water Supply Secretary Harmander Singh on Wednesday ordered civic officials to intensify efforts to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in zones with a rise in number of visitors from other parts of the country.
The Corporation has started issuing e-passes to a huge number of people, following the introduction of the new system using Aadhaar and ration cards. The civic body has issued 13,523 e-passes, rejecting less than 1% of the applications. Zones such as Valasaravakkam and Kodambakkam are likely to register a rise in the number of visitors applying for e-pass for business-related visits.
Zones such as Adyar and Ambattur are expected to get guest workers from other areas owing to industries located in the zones.
The Corporation has planned to quarantine such visitors in the zones. Over 5 lakh visitors are expected to get e-passes this month. Officials said the rise in the number of visitors had already led to an increase in COVID-19 cases in a few areas of the city.
E-pass breakdown
Out of the 4,131 stranded persons who applied for e-passes in the last two days, just 16 applications were rejected. Before the launch of the new system, less than 1,200 were allowed into the city.
As many as 1,686 people applied for e-passes for medical emergencies and just two applications were rejected. Most of the 274 applications under the category of death were approved. A total of 2,027 applications were received citing marriage participation as a reason and 2,026 e-passes were issued.
All 13 e-pass applications to participate in government tenders were approved. All 46 applications to implement government projects were also approved. A total of 3,573 applications for work-related e-passes were received, and all of them were approved.