COVID-19: 52 test positive,81 discharged

Chennai, Apr 27 () As many as 81 people weredischarged following recovery from COVID-19 as 52 testedpositive for the contagion on Monday, including a one-year-oldchild, taking the number of cases in Tamil Nadu to 1,937, thegovernment said. As key urban regions of the State entered the secondday of complete lockdown, the active number of cases as ondate stood at 809 and those discharged was higher at 1,101. From various hospitals, 81 were discharged and testingof 1381 samples were under process in various labs and thefatalities remained at Sunday's count of 24, a governmentbulletin said. The tests are done in 30 government and 11 private labsall over Tamil Nadu and today alone 6,753 people were testedand cumulatively 86,339 have been tested (RT-PCR test). As many as 94,781 samples have so far been tested whichincludes repeat specimen from same persons for confirmatorypurposes. Those who tested positive today include a one year oldboy from Villupuram, a 13-year old teenager from here and 31were men and 19 women taking the aggregate to 1,937 in theState, the bulletin said.

Chennai, leading the red zone of Tamil Nadu hadnearly all of the new cases today (47) and with this, 570people had tested positive for the infection in the Statecapital. Coimbatore followed with 141 cases and Tirupur andDindigul had 112 and 80 people respectively, who were affectedby the infection. Krishnagiri district continued to be only green zone inthe whole of Tamil Nadu with no new cases in over 28 dayswhile neighbouring Dharmapuri had one and Tirupathur 18. An Inter-Ministerial Central Team to assess the groundsituation vis-a-vis the COVID-19 pandemic had a meeting withChief Minister K Palaniswami and top officials at theSecretariat.

A government release said the deliberations coveredprevention strategies and treatement for the affected people. Today is the third day of visit of the panel which onSunday visited, among other places the Koyambedu market here. The Greater Chennai Corporation, meanwhile, furtherintensified barricading and disinfection work in areas wherepeople have tested positive. As part of containment efforts, about 168 barricadeshave been put up in over 150 streets in the city.

Senior GCC officials inspected the halls earmarked forquarantine purposes at the Loyola College here, one of theoldest educational institutions in the city.

Fire and Rescue Services Department personnel toojoined the disinfection work in several areas.

As the full shutdown entered day two here and inCoimbatore, Madurai, Salem and Tirupur, the cities werelargely deserted as police and local civic officials kept aclose watch to ensure people stayed indoors. Organised by the corporation and a body of traders,hawkers sold vegetables on pushcarts and groceries and veggiestores continued to be shut. State police said 3,16,404 FIRs have been registered and2.84 lakh vehicles seized so far in respect of lockdownviolations and a fine of Rs 3.33 crore levied.

Sunday, the first day of full shutdown, saw 60 peoplegetting discharged and 64 new infected cases.

On Saturday, 94 people were discharged followingrecovery while 66 tested positive, which was the third day ofmore people getting cured than those who had freshlycontracted the contagion. On April 23, a total of 54 new cases were reported and90 people were discharged that day and the following day, 72tested positive and 114 got cured. VGN BNWELCOME BNWELCOME