The Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) on Sunday again opened up its tele-counselling centre, with 100 lines, to help those in home isolation. The centres, which were opened last year amid the pandemic, were gradually phased out after the number of cases decreased.
Talking to IANS, Chennai Corporation Commissioner G Prakash said, "Last year, the tele-counselling centre did a commendable job and as cases are increasing, we have opened this centre again. The highest number of cases per day last year was 2,393 but now we have 1,000 more and we have restarted all the initiatives we took last year." Last year, the centre had attended to 4 lakh calls before it was closed in December after the cases had come down.
The tele-counselling centre, last year, had helped set up green corridors, worked among the patients to remove their depression, and also helped people to buy essentials. Residents of Chennai can dial 044 46122300 or 044 25384520 to connect to the tele-counselling centre for queries related to COVID-19 and COVID-19 emergencies.
The staff working at these centres are equipped to deal with queries and clarifications related to COVID emergencies, medical advice on COVID symptoms, COVID testing centres, COVID care centres and vaccination centres. The tele-counselling centres will also be able to help the callers who are COVID-19 positive for home isolation support, emergency medical assistance and contact tracing.
The state government on Sunday announced a new set of restrictions in Tamil Nadu which will be implemented from April 20. Night curfew from 10 pm to 4 am, full Sunday lockdowns, complete shutdown of tourist spots, beaches and parks etc are among the restrictions that have been announced by the state government.
The Greater Chennai Corporation is identifying 500 symptomatic cases everyday and around 11,000 fever workers are surveying households daily to find symptomatic people. Out of the 12,600 beds, 1,104 beds are occupied now.