AROUND TAMIL NADU

09.05.2020

TN issues around 50K inter-state travel passes

The state government, in the past four days, has issued more than 50,000 inter-state passes for people to move between states in personal vehicles. Sources said more than 46,000 passes were for outbound travel. “Nearly 80% of the total passes issued were to people who had registered to travel to Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Karnataka,” said a source in the government. Around 4,600 were inbound (entry) passes. “There were 18,000 applications the day the portal was launched. It has reduced gradually. On Thursday, we received around 3,000 applications. Applications seeking e-pass have reduced drastically in the past two days,” said the official.

Two test positive in Puducherry

Puducherry recorded two Covid-19 infections on Friday - a lorry driver, from Kutchipalayam in Puducherry who visited the Koyambedu market, and a contact of a Covid-19 positive patient from Villupuram district. They have been admitted to Indira Gandhi medical college and research institute (IGMC & RI) and Jawaharlal institute of postgraduate medical education and research (Jipmer) in the Union territory. As on Friday, Puducherry recorded 15 Covid-19 positive cases.

Stir against Tasmac drags in bad PDS rice

The second batch of 1,136 patients and their caregivers from Jharkhand, who were stranded in Vellore after treatment at Christian Medical College hospital, left in a special train to Ranchi from Katpadi on Friday. The first train to Ranchi left on Monday. Vellore collector said 9,093 stranded patients and caregivers, mostly from West Bengal, Jharkhand, Bihar, Assam, Manipur and Tripura, have been identified.

NEW FOCUS: People protesting against Tasmac outlets in Trichy also protested against the poor quality of PDS rice given to them

HC: Mad rush at Tasmac shops, shut them till lockdown is lifted

Sureshkumar.K@timesgroup.com

Chennai:  09.05.2020

Livid over the chaos at liquor shops across the state, the Madras high court on Friday indicted authorities for blatant violation of conditions laid down by it to resume liquor sale on May 7, and ordered immediate closure of all shops till end of the lockdown.

“The online sale recommended by this court was not even put to test. The social or physical distancing norms and wearing of masks were not followed. Number of bottles to be sold to each buyer, as restricted by this court, was also flouted. The selling conditions based on age, as mentioned in the guidelines, were also not followed. And the Supreme Court on Friday observed that sates should consider home delivery of liquor/indirect sale during lockdown,” said a division bench of Justice Vineet Kothari and Justice Pushpa Sathyanarayana while passing interim orders on a batch of petitions through video-conferencing on Friday.

Welcoming the verdict, Makkal Neethi Maiyam chief and actor Kamal Haasan in a tweet attributed it to the voices of women in Tamil Nadu.

The judges, in their order, said it is open to the state government and Tasmac to homedeliver liquor during the lockdown, and the 30,000-odd contractual employees of the state vendor could be used for the purpose after due medical examination.

There is currently no legal provision for home-delivery of alcohol in the country, except in West Bengal and Punjab. Tamil Nadu can make appropriate amendments to rules to build a technology-based home delivery model to promote responsible consumption of alcohol.

“It is brought to the notice of this court that about 3,850 shops across the state were opened, and there was a record sale of ₹175 crore. The above scenario reported after day one of the reopening only go to show that the state machinery is out of control either in disciplining the crowd or even in the process of sales,” HC said.

SC: Booze can be home-delivered

The Supreme Court on Friday suggested that the Centre could look at home delivery or indirect sale of liquor to stop crowding and refused to entertain a PIL seeking a fresh ban on liquor sale. The petitioner, G Natarajan, told a bench headed by Justice Ashok Bhushan a fresh ban on liquor should be enforced as the experience showed that people were ready to put their lives at risk by breaching social distancing norms. P7

‘Mad rush without following norms will lead to surge in new clusters’

The judges said they were startled by photos, videos and reports in the media, and added deploying police personnel to control crowded tipplers would also put police personnel’s lives at risk, besides preventing them from discharging their duties in places where their services are really required.

“Now what worries this court is this mad rush for liquor by thousands of people without following any norms prescribed by the state, Tasmac authorities or by this court, would only lead to witnessing the form of surge of new clusters as opined by epidemiologists and public health experts,” they said.

The judges took note of the mad rush of people at Koyambedu wholesale market that had to be closed after it emerged as a super-spreader of Covid-19 cases, and said Tasmac shops should not become similar clusters. They also referred to media reports on spike in domestic violence cases and death of four people after Tasmac shops were reopened.

The judges then adjourned the case to May 14 for further proceedings.

Centre says we must learn to live with virus for some time

Sushmi.Dey@timesgroup.com

New Delhi:  09.05.20020

The health ministry on Friday said citizens will have to learn to live with coronavirus, indicating that there may be no early tapering off of the disease and people may have to adjust to a new normal of social distancing and sanitation that may become part of everyday life for some time to come.

Responding to questions over the trajectory of the Covid-19 curve and how many cases could be projected in the context of AIIMS director Dr Randeep Guleria’s comment that there could be a peak in June-July, health ministry spokesperson Lav Agarwal said community support was needed to fight the infection and to manage it at the current levels.

“When we are talking of relaxations and migrant workers coming back, we are faced with a major challenge. We have to learn to live with the virus, and to learn to live with the virus, we need to introduce certain behavioural changes, to implement social distancing practices to combat this virus. It is a difficult battle and we need everyone’s cooperation and community support,” Agarwal said.

The remarks pointed to a long drawn battle where prelockdown normalcy may not be feasible for some time. Rather, the possibility of containment strategies being a regular feature as the infection waxes and wanes, or erupts due to local outbreaks even if the curve flattens, seems to be a likely scenario with public and private interactions adjusting to the new rules of engagement.

Maha, Guj, Delhi, TN spikes worry Centre

Worrying spikes in cases in Maharashtra, Gujarat and Delhi and gaps in contact tracing, quarantine and containment efforts that threaten to skew the national graph concern the Centre. Rise in cases in TN, Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh are also worrying, but to a lesser extent. P 7

ICMR to ascertain community spread

ICMR may start a study in 75 districts with maximum number of cases to check for onset of community transmission. The health ministry has also asked states to test 250 samples of people with severe acute respiratory illness and influenza-like illnesses from each district. P 7

Recovery rate has now improved to 29.36%, compared to April’s 13%

At the same time, the comments can be seen as an effort to “normalise” life to the best possible extent with many parts of the country showing improvement.

In 216 districts, no positive case has been detected. In 42 districts, no new case has been reported in the last 28 days, while 29 districts have had none in 21days. Besides, 36 districts have not reported any case for 14 days and 46 none for the last seven days, Agarwal said. As many as 3,390 new positive cases and 103 deaths were reported from across the country in the last 24 hours, taking the total Covid-19 cases in India to 56,342.

Of this, 37,916 are active while 1,886 people have died, according to the ministry’s data. The comments came in the wake of worsening of the doubling rate over the last one week from 12 days to 10, led by a sharp rise in positive cases in some states like Maharashtra, Gujarat and Delhi where the Centre has pointed out major gaps in containment measures and contact tracing.

Similarly, there has been a catch up in the count in West Bengal.

Highlighting that collective effort was required to stop spread of infectious diseases, Agarwal said the disease moved in a certain way even if one state failed to implement 100% of containment measures and this impacted the national graph. The recovery rate from the disease has improved to 29.36%, as compared to around 13% in the middle of April. Data also showed less severity of the disease with 3.2% of the total active cases on oxygen support, 4.2% in ICUs and 1.1% on ventilator support.

Responding to a query on when India was likely to see a peak in Covid-19 cases, Agarwal said, “If we follow the required dos and don’ts, we may not reach the peak in number of cases and our curve may continue to remain flat.”

The comments came in the wake of worsening of the doubling rate over the last one week from 12 days to 10, led by a sharp rise in positive cases in some states

'ஜியோமீட்' அறிமுகம்

பதிவு செய்த நாள்07மே  2020   00:00

வீட்டிலிருந்தே வேலை பார்க்கும் நிலை உருவான பின், காணொலி மூலமாக உரையாடுவது அதிகரித்துவிட்டது. இதையடுத்து, 'ஜூம்' போன்ற பல நிறுவனங்கள் கொடிகட்டி பறக்க துவங்கியுள்ளன.

இந்நிலையில், ரிலையன்ஸின் ஜியோ நிறுவனமும் களத்தில் குதித்துள்ளது. 'ஜூம், கூகுள் மீட், ஹவுஸ்பார்ட்டி' போன்ற நிறுவனங்களுக்கு ஈடு கொடுக்கும் வகையில், 'ஜியோமீட்' எனும் செயலியை அறிமுகம் செய்துள்ளது.

இந்த செயலி மூலமாக, இலவச பிளானில், ஐந்து நபர்களுடன் உரையாடலாம். பிசினஸ் பிளான் எனில், 100 பேருடன் உரையாடலாம்.

'ஆண்ட்ராய்டு, ஐபோன் உள்ளிட்ட போன்களிலும், விண்டோஸ், மேக் மென்பொருள் கொண்ட கம்ப்யூட்டர்களிலும் இதை பயன்படுத்தலாம். மேலும், கூகுள் குரோம் மூலமாகவும் மீட்டிங்கில் இணையலாம்' என, ஜியோ தெரிவித்துள்ளது.

Reopening of Tasmac shops: Those who quit drinking will hit the bottle, say docs

TNN | May 6, 2020, 04.29 AM IST

Trichy: As Tasmac wine shops were scheduled to reopen on Thursday after more than 40 days, psychiatrists and psychologists are apprehensive about the possible return of alcoholism among those who quit drinking. They also suggested initiating psychological intervention to reduce the number of addicts in the state.

Since the beginning of the lockdown on March 25, there was a call for psychological intervention for addicts who suffer from withdrawal symptoms of pneumonia, violence, aggression, trembling, nausea, vomiting, headache, restlessness and agitation. In the past 40 plus days, some of the de-addiction centres have come across such cases. Psychologist S Muthukumar of Sunrise De-addiction Centre in Trichy said his centre received 40 such cases during the lockdown. “My apprehension is not about the alcohol addicts because they have high chances of taking alcohol again. The concern is that social drinkers may become addicts after the reopening of liquor shops,” he said.

Quoting surveys, Muthukumar said that the society has 40 % of social drinkers and 5% of dependants. “Social drinkers would have a craving for drinks,” he said.

Director of Athma Hospitals, Trichy, Dr K Ramakrishnan said that their centre witnessed very few number of alcohol dependants with withdrawal symptoms during the lockdown. He was of the view that the availability of Indian made foreign liquor (IMFL) in black market at exorbitant rate and the illicit arrack kept the alcohol dependants high even during the lockdown. “As a psychiatrist, I would prefer total prohibition. If they reopen it, they should restrict the consumption by rationing method,” said Dr Ramakrishnan.

Psychiatrist of district mental health program Dr PT Krishnamoorthy of Trichy said, “We have not seen new case of addicts showing withdrawal symptoms. It may be because of stocking up of liquor. Some may take over the counter medication,” he said. Stating that any habit can be overcome if it is controlled for 21 days, clinical psychologist D Randeep Rajkumar said that those with personality disorder would easily give up their willpower and again start drinking.

He also put the onus on the state government for the rehabilitation of the alcohol addicts. “While lifting the ban on liquor sale, the government should also give importance for psychological intervention to those on the brink of quitting their addiction. They should create the facility at government hospitals and encourage counsellors on rehabilitation activities,” said Randeep.

Sastra wants govt to bring back stranded students

TNN | May 7, 2020, 04.15 AM IST

Trichy: Sastra Deemed University, Thanjavur has sought help from the Union government to bring back 79 students who are stranded in various countries. 

The students are on short-term visas to countries like the US, UK, Denmark, Spain, Netherlands, Sweden, Germany, Australia, Malaysia, Canada and Japan, as part of their research internship programme. In a letter to foreign secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla, vice-chancellor, S Vaidhyasubramaniam requested that steps be taken for the safe return of the students by ensuring flight availability.

All their visas are about to expire, and their academic sessions are coming to a close. Most of them are placed or having plans to pursue higher education, he said.

Marauding monkey kills 50 goats, Arumbavur villagers in panic

TNN | May 8, 2020, 04.43 AM IST

Trichy: The movement of a suspected rabies-infected monkey has kept residents of Arumbavur village in Perambalur district indoors.

The monkey, which came to the village in January, has claimed the lives of around 50 goats in the village and has also attacked and injured a few women. But, the administration is yet to take any steps to address the issue, the villagers said.N Krishnamurthy, 65, residing in the village said that they have to live in constant fear of the monkey, which has prevented their visits to shops to get essentials. The monkey was bitten by dogs and staff in the primary health centre in the village suspect that the monkey may be infected with rabies, he said. S Muthu, 40, another villager, said that it has claimed the lives of 50 goats in the village affecting their livelihood. They had tried to catch the monkey but failed.

The villagers have filed a petition to district collector seeking steps to capture the monkey that is posing a threat to their lives. A senior official from collector’s office said that complaint has been forwarded to the forest department for appropriate action. Honorary district animal welfare officer G Ramakrishnan from Animal welfare board of India (AWBI) said that it may not be a case of rabies as monkeys, if infected with rabies, would die in a week. It could be infected with some other disease, which may be reason for its violent behaviour, he said.