Tirupattur, formed as Tamil Nadu’s 35th district in November last year, carved out from Vellore district, has 18 positive COVID-19 cases as of April 27.
Tirupattur Superintendent of Police (SP) P Vijayakumar told TNM that 17 of the 18 cases are from the single source event, last reported on April 13. “The 18th case was a police officer, reported ten days later on April 23. Apart from this we have no new cases,” he shares. With a population of a little over 11 lakhs, the district has four taluks - Tirupattur, Vaniyambadi, Ambur and Natrampalli.
On April 23, a 44-year-old woman police officer at the Vaniyambadi taluk police station in the district reported positive for COVID-19 at a medical camp in which about 230 persons from civic, revenue, police departments and media were screened for infection. Following this medical camp was organised to screen all police personnel at Vaniyambadi taluk.
To curb the spread of the disease, the district administration has adopted containment measures, primarily identifying and deploying 1300 volunteers from the community as well as tracking those under quarantine. Officials are also working to take care of the Ramzan needs of the district’s significant Muslim population.
Mobilising volunteers
The district has five containment zones under which three municipal areas of Tirupattur, Vaniyambadi, Ambur are completely covered and therefore fully shut down. The district administration has now mobilised close to 1300 volunteers from the community itself to deliver essential services to those inside the municipal areas of the containment zones. “The idea is to mobilise as many volunteers as possible. The criteria to become a volunteer is to be at least 18 years of age. We teach them social distancing and equip them with basic protective gears so they can help with delivery of essential services to households,” says Vijayakumar.
He shares, “We have made a database of the volunteers we have mobilised from each street. Moreover, the volunteers keep changing periodically, since they also need the rest. We screen them and issue ID cards and also teach them how to go about it.”
Volunteers knock on every door, make note of people’s requirements right from vegetables to medicines and deliver them on a daily basis. “They also make an inventory of their future needs and replenish them as and when required,” he adds.
Tirupattur district is made up of agrarian population and their habits are different from that of an urban area the SP explains. “People come to markets and bazaars every single day. It is unlike an urban area where we stock up on the rations. That is why we had to come up with ways to keep people in their homes. We have issued vehicle passes, mobilised volunteers, etc. We want to keep people in their homes,” he shares.
For Muslims who make up 40 percent of Tirupattur district’s population (50-55% in the municipal areas), the month of Ramzan comes with unique requirements. “We have all of it covered. We are making available fruits, dates and meat for all those celebrating Ramzan in the district,” the SP adds.
Tracking those under home quarantine
In Tirupattur, 950 are under home quarantine, 190 recently added to the list after April 23. “We have google map linked tracking of those individuals in our control room,” Vijayakumar explains. So far two persons have tried to escape from home quarantine following which they were brought back and have FIRs registered. About 6,000 cases have been registered in the district on those violating lockdown rules, and vehicles have been seized.
Tirupattur also has control rooms set up in three municipal areas where the grievances are addressed at municipal level. “We receive about 100 to 150 requests per day for passes, medical assistance, vegetables and essential commodities. All of it is taken care of in the municipal level itself,” he adds.