Coronavirus | One death, 50 new cases in T.N.

Forty-eight of the fresh cases have link to Delhi event

Tamil Nadu reported its sixth COVID-19 death, and added 50 new cases to its tally on Monday. With this, the State now has 621 cases.

The victim was a 57-year-old woman, who was admitted to the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital at 8 p.m. on Sunday with severe acute respiratory infection.

“She had high diabetes and hypertension. We lifted samples for COVID-19 testing. She died on Monday morning, and her sample returned positive for COVID-19. She had travelled to Tiruchi by train. We are tracing her source of infection. All her family members and high-risk contacts have been put under home quarantine,” Health Secretary Beela Rajesh told reporters on Monday.

Of the 50 persons who tested positive for COVID-19, 48 were from a “single source event” (the Delhi conference), including contacts. Dr. Rajesh added that so far 1,475 persons who attended the event had been tested. However, there was no clarity on how many of them tested positive. Till Sunday, the official figure was 522.

According to details available in the bulletin issued by the Directorate of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, four persons were added to the tally based on an inquiry, taking the total to 526. Taking the 48 who tested positive on Monday into account, the count now stands at 574.

Dr. Rajesh, during the press conference, said that 573 of those who attended the Delhi event had tested positive, 858 tested negative and 44 samples were under process. Apart from those who participated in the event, testing of 250 of their contacts was under way.

Nine persons – five women and four men – from Chennai, who were contacts of a COVID-19 patient, have tested positive. Two other men from the city with a contact history have also tested positive. Three women from Namakkal – who are contacts of a patient – are positive. In addition, two men from Kancheepuram – also contacts of a patient – tested positive. Another man from Coimbatore has also tested positive. 

Apart from them, 13 persons from Tiruchi, four from Tiruppur, three from Chennai and Thanjavur, two each from Cuddalore and Chengalpattu, and one each from Ariyalur, Tirupattur, Tiruvannamalai and Villupuram – all of whom travelled to Delhi – have tested positive. 

One woman from Cuddalore, who had a travel history to Andamans, has tested positive. 

A total of 5,015 samples have been tested till date. Of this, 295 samples are under process. A total of 72,791 persons are under home quarantine, while 19,060 persons have completed the 28-day quarantine period. Another 205 persons are in government quarantine facilities. 

Chennai cases

The number of COVID-19 cases went up in the city. Chennai has 110 cases as on date. On Monday alone, there were 15 cases in the city. Coimbatore is next with 59 cases, while Dindigul has 45 cases. So far, 32 districts have been covered under containment activities. A total of 11,59,284 households and a population of 40,71,230 have been covered. In all, 26,953 field staff were involved, she added.

The Health Secretary said the State had obtained 21 RT-PCRs and installation was under way at government medical college hospitals. They had sought Indian Council of Medical Research’s approval for the facilities. These facilities would be operationalised soon. One lakh rapid testing kits were expected by April 10. The testing process would then take about 30 minutes.

Source: Read Full Article