COVID-19 IN TN: GUIDELINES ISSUED BY STATE GOVT FOR 711 CONTAINMENT ZONES ACROSS 36 DISTRICTS

With the rise in COVID-19 cases across Tamil Nadu, the state government has notified 711 containment zone in 36 districts in which 189 are in Chennai. As the cases are increasing day by day, special guidelines have been issued on the bases of mapping and geographic dispersion.  

These guidelines have been notified to curb the spread of the deadly COVID-19 pandemic in the state. One of the main instructions which needs to be followed is; “If there are five and more [COVID-19] positive cases in a locality then it will be considered as clusters."

"In urban areas, even if there were a single or less than five COVID-19 positive cases, the street should be demarcated as a containment zone. If the street is very long, a reasonable stretch could be brought under the containment zone to restrict movement," the order added. 

As per a Government Order which was issued by Chief Secretary K Shanmugam, on May 2, the capital city -Chennai has a maximum of 189 containment zones while Dharmapuri district had just one such zone.

Highlighting about the rural areas, "the whole village or the group of villages where the clustering of cases have been reported should be demarcated as containment zone or zones. Also, if the residence happens to be the border of the ward, then the adjoining wards may also be included in the containment zone,” the guideline added. 

Amid this lockdown, if specific areas have reported no cases for 21 days, then they can be considered as a level lower in zonal classification i.e from red to orange and then to green.

Meanwhile, the list of containment zones and guidelines for demarcation could be accessed at https://bit.ly/containmentzoneguidelines.