As COVID-19 containment zones have been increasing across Tamil Nadu as the sequel of the rapid spread of the cases, the state government has held a crucial meeting on Monday with the district collectors to ramp up the containment measures to mitigate the spread of the pandemic, which has got its grounds in some of the major districts outside Chennai.

According to the reports, Tamil Nadu has crossed the tally of 1000 containment zones by reporting 1,089 zones so far as of July 3 of which 158 belong to Chennai. Following the unwelcoming development, Tamil Nadu Chief Secretary Shanmugam conveyed a meet with the district collectors on Monday during which the top bureaucrat of the state has issued several directives to the collectors including the implementation of the aggressive testing protocols and augmenting the facilities to treat the patients.

The Chief Secretary held a meeting with the fifteen district collectors and directed them to pace up the COVID-19 testing in their respective districts to detect the cases at the early stage. He further instructed the collectors to carry out testing for asymptomatic people and to install the fever camps in the vulnerable areas of the districts. 

The state government has further instructed the collectors to make use of the prevailing facilities and infrastructure and the Chief Secretary further asked the health department to fill up the vacancies in the medical facilities for a temporary basis. The district collectors have been directed to accommodate the patients with severe symptoms to the critical care units whereas people who have shown mild and moderate symptoms would be moved to the COVID-19 health care centers installed by the government.

The Chief Secretary has held the first phase of the meeting with the district collectors on Monday and he has been scheduled to meet the officials of the Chennai Corporation on Tuesday while he will be meeting the collectors of the remaining districts on Wednesday to take stock of the situation.

According to the reports, the eight districts of Tamil Nadu have reported 703 containment zones in the last week of June. Apart from Chennai, Salem has reported 184 containment zones, Tiruvannamalai and Thirupathur with 84 zones each while Madurai and Cuddalore had reported 75 and 59 zones respectively. As of Monday, Tamil Nadu has reported 1,14,978 cases so far of which 46,833 are active, 66,571 have been recovered, and 1,571 had succumbed to the virus.