Thanks to total lockdown, Tamil Nadu sees slight drop in COVID-19 cases

The lifting of the total lockdown after 18 days saw the arterial roads of Chennai flooded with vehicles and people coming out in large numbers on Monday when the number of new infections all over the State was at 3827 and the day’s death figure standing at 61.

Health Minister C Vijaybhaskar said the total lockdown was helpful in the government’s effort to control the spread of the Coronavirus with the members of the public extending cooperation to the authorities.

He said that spread had come under control and urged the people not to fear over the death figures. Almost all the people who succumbed to Covid-19 had co-morbidities, he said.

The Minister was speaking to media after holding a meeting with directors of 43 branches of medicine at the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital, where he also launched a battery operated vehicle fitted with a stretcher and other facilities to transport Covid-19 patients from the out-patient section to the wards.

He said RGGGH was today more a research centre, offering quality treatment and care to Covid-19 patients, including plasma treatment. The hospital had 1000 beds and had admitted 700 patients, he said, adding that 1000 more beds would be added soon.

He said an oxygen pipeline was being laid with a view to increasing the oxygen capacity of the hospital to 20 kl and work on that would be over in a week’s time.

The Minister said that a block in the Stanley hospital had been given for Ayurveda treatment of Coronavirus cases and in the Guindy hospital facilities would be provided for yoga, Naturopathy and Siddha.

Fisheries Minister D Jayakumar held a meeting with officials at the Ripon building. He said though the total lockdown help curb the spread of the virus, the government announced the relaxations taking into consideration the livelihood of the people.

The spread would come down step by step and the government was taking all efforts to control it fully, he said, adding that they were taking measures to stop crowding at fish markets by insisting on social distancing and wearing of face masks.

Retail sales had been banned at the Kasimedu fishing harbor and even other fish vendors had been instructed not to sell fish to those turning up without face masks.

Food and Civil Supplies Minister R Kamaraj, who inspected fever camps in Kodambakkam and Annanagar, said that the number of people recovering from Coronavirus was 62 per cent.

In Chennai city, 12,712 fever camps were organized benefitting 8,20,358 people. From the camps 38,280 infections were detected and 62 per cent of them had recovered, he said.

Stating that the infections had come down in the city, Kamaraj said that Kodambakkam had 2414 infections 14 days back but now it was only 990.

Chief Secretary K Shanmugham organized a meeting with Collectors of 15 districts through video conference and urged them to intensify efforts to control the pandemic in their respective districts. He stressed the need for creating awareness among the people, increase testing and enable people to come forward for testing.

After Chennai that had 1747 new cases on Monday, Madurai reported 245 cases, followed by Chengalpattu (213), Kanchipuram (182) and Thiruvallur (175).

Among the politicians who tested positive were former Minister B Valarmathi, who is now the head of the Text Book Society of Tamil Nadu, and former MLA Annadurai of CPI.

Nagarajan, an armed reserved constable, died of Covid-19, taking the total number of police personnel succumbing to the virus to three.