According to Meghanatha Reddy, deputy commissioner (revenue and finance) of Chennai Corporation, over the past five days, the civic body took 950 guest workers waiting at the station to shelters and put them in trains to their destinations. “Amidst fighting the pandemic, we have not missed taking care of our migrant workers from other states,” he tweeted.

Meanwhile, the Corporation, labour department and Southern Railway have set up a help desk at Central railway station to assist the labourers.

“During previous year’s lockdown, we provided shelter and food to migrant workers for several days at special camps as there were no trains. But trains are being operated this year. So we provide shelter and food for them until their tickets are confirmed,” another official said.

The official added that the move has been taken to help the labourers and also to prevent overcrowding at the railway station. A community centre owned by the civic body has been converted into a temporary camp for them.

Meanwhile, more than 1,200 patients benefited from COVID special ambulances rolled out by the civic body in the past two days. On Saturday, 607 persons utilised the service and on Sunday (up to 4 pm), 644 persons utilised it. The civic body has launched as many as 225 COVID special ambulances by retrofitting cars with basic equipment.

“We are monitoring the usage of car ambulances (COVID special ambulances) through the control room,” Gagandeep Singh Bedi, Commissioner, Chennai Corporation, said.

The special ambulances are being used to transport positive persons to screening centres for triaging. On the other hand, the growth rate of new cases has come down to 1.3 per cent for the week ended on Sunday from 3.8 per cent during the previous week.