Chennai Corporation has started an intensive sample collection at the San Thome containment zone. In order to prevent the virus spread, the civic body formed a containment zone here after a 65-year-old man tested positive in this area.
Now, all persons who came in contact with this virus-positive man and people showing virus-like symptoms (cough, fever, breathlessness) in this zone are sent to the testing kiosks at Triplicane or Nungambakkam for sample collection.
Says Chennai Corporation’s Zonal Health Officer (Zone 9), “We are collecting samples of people who came in contact with the virus-positive patient. We are also collecting samples of his family members and their contacts for testing.”
This includes the security guard, driver and domestic helpers who came in touch with this patient. In addition, we are also sending samples of residents living in the same street/neighbouring houses as the virus-positive patient.
Besides this, persons who have reported cough, fever in the containment survey that is on in this zone are also sent for sample collection.
Says a Sanitary Inspector, who is in charge of Sample collection at Triplicane, “For sample collection, people will be taken inside the kiosk which is a closed compartment. There a technician will collect samples using either nasal swab or throat swab method. Using a special instrument, the technician will use a swab (a narrow stick covered with cotton on top) to take the sample from nose or throat. Then, it is preserved in a solution and later packed in a container. Later, the containers are sent for testing at private labs or at Madras Medical College Hospital.”
The test results would come in a couple of days, he says. Till now, the zonal health officer says they have sent 453 samples for testing from Teynampet zone. However, she says there has been no new virus-positive cases in Mylapore so far.
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