750 asymptomatic patients shifted to care centres

From Government Stanley Medical College Hospital, 159 patients were moved to Velammal Engineering College while 164 others were sent to DG Vaishnav College. From Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital, 306 persons have been moved to Chennai Trade Centre in Nandambakkam. In total, 753 patients have been shifted to care centres.

As on Friday, more than 2,250 persons are undergoing treatment in city hospitals and care centres. The civic body has been setting up care centres and quarantine centres in private institutions and had asked the owners of marriage halls to hand over the facility to convert them into care centres. The plan is to create more than 50,000 beds. “Patients who require lesser medical care will be moved to the care centres to make space for symptomatic patients at hospitals,” an official said.

Such is the concentration of positive cases that more than half of the cases reported in the city are located in just 20 of the 200 divisions.These include division 77 in Thiru Vi Ka Nagar, 127 in Kodambakkam and 120 in Teynampet that have more than 400 cases.

A video clip of patients in Chennai Trade Centre at Nandambakkam protesting has been circulating on social media platforms on Friday. In the clip, several patients allege poor arrangements at the centre. But, officials claimed that proper facilities have been arranged at the care centres.

Meanwhile, special nodal officer J Radhakrishnan inspected the COVID care centres at Trade Centre, ITI Campus in Guindy and others on Friday. He promised mobile ATMs in containment areas so that the residents would not have to come out, and added that routine medicines were being delivered to the public through urban primary health centres.