Chennai Corporation’s night shelters on high alert amid Covid spike

CHENNAI: With the second wave of Covid striking hard, the city corporation’s night shelters are on high alert, faced with risk of infection spread from new inmates rescued from streets. The coordinator of an Egmore shelter said that new inmates who are rescued from streets are subjected to Covid tests. “Sanitary inspectors bring their mobile testing units and we get them tested when they arrive,” said the staff.

According to a Corporation official, the sanitary staff in the respective wards or the sanitary officers coordinate with the shelter staff to vaccinate inmates aged above 45 years; and almost all of them have been covered so far. “These inmates will later be sent to permanent shelters. These permanent shelters don’t accept new admissions without Covid test,” the staff said.  

Elaborating on troubles to convince the inmates to follow proper sanitation procedures, a staff attached to a shelter for the mentally-ill said, “We encourage them to wash hands at regular intervals using small incentives like some activity or food item.”  A staff of a shelter for senior citizens said that the inmates there had received two doses of vaccinations. “Officials made sure that they are vaccinated on priority,” the staff said.