Dataset Information

Surveillance for face mask compliance, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India, October-December, 2020.

ABSTRACT:

Purpose

Government of Tamil Nadu, India, mandated the face mask wearing in public places as one of the mitigation measures of COVID-19. We established a surveillance system for monitoring the face mask usage. This study aimed to estimate the proportion of the population who wear face masks appropriately (covering nose, mouth, and chin) in the slums and non-slums of Chennai at different time points.

Methods

We conducted cross-sectional surveys among the residents of Chennai at two-time points of October and December 2020. The sample size for outdoor mask compliance for the first and second rounds of the survey was 1800 and 1600, respectively, for each of the two subgroups-slums and non-slums. In the second round, we included 640 individuals each in the slums and non-slums indoor public places and 1650 individuals in eleven shopping malls. We calculated the proportions and 95% confidence interval (95%CI) for the mask compliance outdoors and indoors by age, gender, region, and setting (slum and non-slum).

Results

We observed 3600 and 3200 individuals in the first and second surveys, respectively, for outdoor mask compliance. In both rounds, the prevalence of appropriate mask use outdoors was significantly lower in the slums (28%-29%) than non-slum areas (36%-35%) of Chennai (p<0.01). Outdoor mask compliance was similar within slum and non-slum subgroups across the two surveys. Lack of mask use was higher in the non-slums in the second round (50%) than in the first round of the survey (43%) (p<0.05). In the indoor settings in the 2nd survey, 10%-11% among 1280 individuals wore masks appropriately. Of the 1650 observed in the malls, 947 (57%) wore masks appropriately.

Conclusion

Nearly one-third of residents of Chennai, India, correctly wore masks in public places. We recommend periodic surveys, enforcement of mask compliance in public places, and mass media campaigns to promote appropriate mask use.

SUBMITTER: M J

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8462676 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:ObjectivesTo describe the public health strategies and their effect in controlling the COVID-19 pandemic from March to October 2020 in Chennai, India.SettingChennai, a densely populated metropolitan city in Southern India, was one of the five cities which contributed to more than half of the COVID-19 cases in India from March to May 2020. A comprehensive community-centric public health strategy was implemented for controlling COVID-19, including surveillance, testing, contact tracing, isolation and quarantine. In addition, there were different levels of restrictions between March and October 2020.ParticipantsWe collected the deidentified line list of all the 192 450 COVID-19 cases reported from 17 March to 31 October 2020 in Chennai and their contacts for the analysis. We defined a COVID-19 case based on the real-time reverse transcriptase-PCR (RT-PCR) positive test conducted in one of the government-approved labs.Outcome measuresThe primary outcomes of interest were incidence of COVID-19 per million population, case fatality ratio (CFR), deaths per million, and the effective reproduction number (Rt). We also analysed the surveillance, testing, contact tracing and isolation indicators.ResultsOf the 192 450 RT-PCR confirmed COVID-19 cases reported in Chennai from 17 March to 31 October 2020, 114 889 (60%) were males. The highest incidence was 41 064 per million population among those 61-80 years. The incidence peaked during June 2020 at 5239 per million and declined to 3627 per million in October 2020. The city reported 3543 deaths, with a case fatality ratio of 1.8%. In March, Rt was 4.2, dropped below one in July and remained so until October, even with the relaxation of restrictions.ConclusionThe combination of public health strategies might have contributed to controlling the COVID-19 epidemic in a large, densely populated city in India. We recommend continuing the test-trace-isolate strategy and appropriate restrictions to prevent resurgence.