New Covid restrictions in force from today

REINING IN COVID

New Covid restrictions in force from today

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:06.05.2021

The state government’s new set of restrictions to contain the spread of virus will come into force from 4am on May 6. Public transport, railways, metro rail, public and private buses and cabs will be allowed to operate at a maximum capacity of 50%.

The standalone grocery and vegetable shops will be permitted till 12 noon without air conditioning facility. Only 50% customers will be allowed at a time. A separate order issued by the government said the differently-abled will be fully exempted from attending office during the 15-day period.

All other shops, other than grocery and vegetable shops will remain closed. The big format shops in an area of 3,000sq ft and above, shopping complexes and malls have already been prohibited to function since April 26 onwards. The grocery and vegetable shops in shopping complexes and malls are also not permitted.

As per the order issued by the state government on Monday, the state government/public sector undertakings-run outlets will be permitted between 8am and 12 noon, while pharmacies, supply of milk and other essential services will continue as usual. Take away service alone will be permitted in all restaurants, hotels, bakeries, and mess from 6am to 10am, 12 noon to 3pm and 6pm to 9pm. Tea shops will be permitted to operate till 12 noon. The government also prohibited social/political/sports/entertainment/academic/cultural/festival gathering in open and closed spaces. Cinema theatres will remain shut.

In an order on Wednesday, chief secretary Rajeev Ranjan said that all offices of governments will function with 50% workforce for a fortnight beginning Thursday. The secretaries to governments, heads of departments, the district collectors will have to have an attendance schedule, either on alternate days or once in three days or as per the requirements based on the workload. “Notwithstanding the above alternate working system, the staff on off-duty will attend office if called for any point of time,” the order said. Private offices also will have to function with 50% workforce.

TN reports 23,310 new cases of Covid-19; 6,291 in Chennai

TN reports 23,310 new cases of Covid-19; 6,291 in Chennai

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:06.05.2021

All districts in the state reported more than 100 cases on Wednesday, when Tamil Nadu added167 deaths and 23,310 new Covid-19 cases. This is the highest number of cases and deaths reported by the state since the beginning of the pandemic.

There were 1,28,311 patients in the active registry after hospitals discharged 20,062 patients. The case tally since March 2020 moved to 12.7 lakh and the cumulative death toll touched 14,779.

While hotspot Chennai reported 6,291 new cases (the highest in the state), Ariyalur and Perambalur -- the two districts that were reported fewer than 50 cases a day so far -- reported 112 and 114 cases respectively (the lowest ) on Wednesday. With 2,029 new cases Coimbatore, reported the highest number of cases after Chennai. There were 1755 new cases in Chengalpet and 1385 cases in Tiruvallur. Madurai reported 914 cases.

Overall at least 20 districts reported deaths. Chennai reported 58 deaths – also the maximum in the state, and Chengalpet district followed with 10. This included 10 from the Chengalpet Medical College and Hospital but these excluded the 13 deaths reported between Tuesday and Wednesday following dip in oxygen was not reported in the media bulletin. While Kanyakumari, Ranipet and Madurai reported two deaths each, Salem reported seven and Vellore reported six.

Health department officials said that the centre has still not revised the 280 MT of oxygen allotted to the state although the state’s requirement has increased to 420MT. The state has a capacity of producing 400 MT and has been drawing about 50MT from Puducherry and diverting another 50MT from industries, officials said. “We are pushing the centre to increase allocation to the state. This is something they agreed to do more than a week ago,” a senior official said.

While there were 52,992 active cases in the Chennai region, the other districts in the north reported 1874 new cases. The eight districts in the west together had 25634 active cases followed by 24054 cases in the South. The central region together reported 2,226 cases. Deaths in all the four zone have also gone up –north districts together had 107 deaths while south reported 27, West had 12 and Central districts together logged 27. Meanwhile, 56203 people took the vaccine on Wednesday. The daily vaccinations have been steadily coming down despite increase in cases.

Stalin bats for more Covid-19 beds in pvt hospitals

Stalin bats for more Covid-19 beds in pvt hospitals

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:06.05.2021

DMK president and chief minister- designate M K Stalin on Wednesday appealed to private hospitals in Tamil Nadu to increase bed facilities to treat Covid-19 patients.

At present, private hospitals have allocated 50% of the beds exclusively for Covid-19 treatment. “Since it is a medical emergency, I request private hospitals to add more beds and consider subsidizing the Covid-19 treatment cost,” Stalin said in a statement.

Stalin noted that he had suggested to the chief secretary that a war room be established for better coordination. It would be helpful in monitoring and maintaining the availability of beds, oxygen, and vaccines in all districts.

He applauded frontline workers for their “massive service” for the community.

How a nightmare unfolded at midnight

How a nightmare unfolded at midnight

There Were Not Enough Docs, Nurses To Save Everyone

Pushpa Narayan & Ram Sundaram TNN

Chennai:06.05.2021

Did the authorities at the Chengalpet Medical College Hospital ignore warning signs? Eleven patients died within two hours after the volume of oxygen flowing in the pipelines fell from about 70 litres per minute to 10 litres per minute after midnight on Wednesday.

“It was something that we had warned the management about,” said a duty doctor, a postgraduate medical student. “Oxygen supply had dipped on Tuesday afternoon and two people died,” the doctor said.

The hospital, which had more than 300 patients on oxygen support in Covid-19 and Severe Acute Respiratory Infection wards, consumes an average of 4.2 kilolitres (KL) of oxygen a day. Dean Dr J Muthukumaran said the hospital filled up about 4 kilolitres of oxygen on Tuesday evening, two hours after he received the first complaint. The hospital has five oxygen tanks —two of 10-KL capacity and three 1-KL tanks.

“Our biomedical engineers replaced a coil near the main valve, which created trouble a week ago. It was replaced with a temporary coil (with the help of oxygen manufacturer INOX) to maintain the pressure levels. Ever since the substitute coil was installed, oxygen consumption almost doubled even when the patient count was almost the same. So, we had to refill the main oxygen tank much more frequently,” he said.

On Tuesday, there were no problems once the tank was refilled, but things went horribly wrong by midnight, when the pressure dropped once again.

Patient attenders cried for help in vain. In the children’s ward, doctors and nurses pulled out ambu bags – handheld devices commonly used to provide positive pressure ventilation – to save their tiny patients. In other wards, technicians dragged oxygen cylinders to bedsides.

But there were too many patients and too few healthcare providers. For instance, in the comprehensive emergency obstetric and newborn care ward there were 150 patients including pregnant women and new mothers. This ward had two doctors, two nurses and one technician. The neighboring admin block with more than 200 patients had four doctors, two nurses and two technicians. “When patients choked, there was chaos. Their relatives panicked. Some threatened us even as we were running between beds to save patients,” said a doctor.

“An investigation will be carried out and action will be taken against those who were responsible for the technical fault,” said collector John Louis.

By Wednesday afternoon, director of medical education Dr R Narayanababu, who led the inspection team, said there was “no oxygen shortage”.

In Salem, three Covid-19 patients die in ambulances

In Salem, three Covid-19 patients die in ambulances

Senthil.Kumaran@timesgroup.com

Salem:06.05.2021

Three Covid-19 patients died while undergoing treatment in ambulances parked on the premises of Salem Government Mohan Kumaramangalam Medical College and Hospital (SGMKMCH) on Tuesday night.

Doctors said they did not have sufficient beds to treat the patients, due to which they had treated them in ambulances that brought them to SGMKMCH from private hospitals.

The deceased were a 30-year-old woman and two men aged 42 and 45, who had comorbidities. “They died in the ambulances not responding to treatment,” SGMKMCH dean R Murugesan told TOI. “They were brought at the eleventh hour after their condition became critical.”

Of the 800 beds in SGMKMCH, 550 are oxygenequipped, Murugesan said. “At least 500 new cases are reported from the district every day. We also get patients from neighbouring districts. We can’t accommodate everyone. We have taken steps to set up an additional 200 oxygenequipped beds.”

Critically ill patients from Namakkal, Dharmapuri, Krishnagiri, Kallakurichi, Villupuram and Tiruvannamalai are referred to SGMKMCH, which is a multispecialty hospital. “We try our best to take care of all Covid-19 patients,” Murugesan said.

Following the deaths, the hospital management set up a monitoring committee consisting of Dr Sureshkanna, Dr Pon A Rajarajan, Dr P Kannan, Dr T Sampathkumar and Dr Nagarajan. “The five-member committee will monitor oxygen usage, audit deaths and give suitable advice to the floor monitoring committee,” the dean added.

Meanwhile, a senior doctor at SGMKMCH said primary health centres and government hospitals are referring Covid-19 patients with mild complications.

WAITING FOR THEIR TURN: Ambulances lined up at the Salem Government Mohan Kumaramangalam Medical College and Hospital on Wednesday

'No more' PILs from Traffic Ramaswamy at Madras High Court

'No more' PILs from Traffic Ramaswamy at Madras High Court

Traffic Ramaswamy was a familiar figure at the Madras High Court, often spotted clad in his trademark white shirt and khaki trousers, darting between courts, his Personal Security Officer in tow.

Published: 05th May 2021 12:02 AM 

Traffic Ramaswamy (Photo | EPS)

By Harish Murali

Express News Service

CHENNAI: Prakasam Salai road in the buzzling Parry's locality that housed the office cum residence of Traffic Ramaswamy will no longer be the same after the passing of the social activist at age 87. The High Court premises neighbouring his office was a frequent visiting point for Ramaswamy.

Traffic Ramaswamy was a familiar figure at the Madras High Court, often spotted clad in his trademark white shirt and khaki trousers, darting between courts, his Personal Security Officer in tow.

S Ganesan, a long time associate and advocate for the hundreds of Public Interest Litigation petitions filed by the crusader since the early 2000s, recalled the 2002 incident that spurred Ramaswamy to regularly file cases of public interest.

"He had filed a PIL to regulate fish carts and a section of fish cart owners beat him up and left him bleeding on the road. The then Chief Justice of the Madras High Court Subhashan Reddy in 2003 provided him with a personal security officer," he emphasised.

Since then there has been no turning back for the activist who took up several cases of public interest in Chennai.

Ganesan recalls that there was an instance where Ramaswamy attended the wedding of a close friend's son, however, the moment he saw posters outside on the road leading towards the marriage hall, he left the place without attending the function. He later called up his friend and informed him that the posters were erected illegally and that it was a violation.

"Nothing bogged down the activist, even the several contempt charges he had faced in court," says Ganesan.

In 2014, Ramaswamy was imposed with a Rs 25,000 fine by a division bench of the Madras High Court for filing a vague PIL stating that party functionaries who swore allegiance to criminals cannot form the government.

On most of the occasions, Ramaswamy's PILs were dismissed by the court which found them vague.

However, the octogenarian kept filing them, with the most recent one being a PIL filed against the use of unregistered battery-run cars by the Chennai corporation for collecting garbage.

Following the court direction, all the vehicles were then registered and brought under the Regional Transport Authority for compliance.

Just in the last week of April, the Madras High Court ordered the Chennai corporation to file a report on GNT road encroachments after a PIL by Ramaswamy. Unfortunately the activist will no longer be a witness to its proceedings.

ICMR: Do away with must RT-PCR test for inter-state travel

ICMR: Do away with must RT-PCR test for inter-state travel

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

New Delhi:05.05.2021 

The Indian Council for Medical Research in its advisory for Covid-19 testing during the second wave of the pandemic has recommended that the need for RT-PCR test in healthy individuals undertaking inter-state domestic travel may be completely removed to reduce the load on laboratories. As part of the measures to optimise RT-PCR testing, ICMR advisory makes it clear that the test must not be repeated in any individual who has tested positive once either by RAT or RT-PCR. Also no testing is required for Covid-19 recovered individuals at the time of hospital discharge in accordance with the discharge policy of the ministry of health and family welfare.

The advisory emphasises that non-essential travel and interstate travel of symptomatic individuals (Covid-19 or flu like symptoms) should be essentially avoided to reduce the risk of infection and all asymptomatic individuals undertaking essential travel must follow Covid appropriate behaviour.

It pointed out that mobile testing laboratories are now available on GeM portal and states must augment RT-PCR testing through mobile systems. “To meet the overwhelming testing demand, it will be prudent to upscale testing using Rapid Antigen Tests,” the advisory recommends.

Explaining the need for a detailed advisory on testing for Covid-19, ICMR cites the “unprecedented upsurge of Covid-19 cases and deaths currently being witnessed across India”. The overall nationwide test positivity rate is above 20%. In this backdrop testing-tracking-tracing, isolation and home-based treatment of positive patients is the key measure to curb transmission of SARSCoV-2. As of today, India has a total of 2,506 molecular testing laboratories including RTPCR, True-Nat, CBNAAT and other platforms. The total daily national testing capacity is close to15 lakh tests considering a three- shift operationalisation of the existing laboratory network.