9 new cases in state, 3 have no travel history; 500 doctors appointed

Pushpa.Narayan@timesgroup.com

Chennai:28.03.2020

Nine more people tested positive for the Covid-19 on Friday, taking the total number of cases to 38. Case sheets of at least three patients, all from Chennai, did not have a travel or epidemiological history.

The announcement came minutes after chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami visited the Covid-19 control room on the fifth floor of the Directorate of Medical Services on Anna Salai. “The state is moving from level 1to level 2. So far all infected patients have a travel or contact history. To stop the spread, we have to ensure we follow social distancing. Everyone must stay home,” he said.

The release issued by the health department, later, changed the state’s story. The government lab confirmed that a 25-year-old resident of Chennai, who worked for a (Pheonix) mall in Velachery tested positive for the infection. “When she developed symptoms she went to her native in Ariyalur. She has now tested positive. We are tracking all her contacts,” said a senior health official. She is undergoing treatment at the Ariyalur GH.

Another patient, a 73-year-old woman from Pammal and a 39-year-old PG Naturopathy student from Anna Nagar also tested positive for the infection. “While the woman says she attended a prayer session in the church, the student has attended a birthday party. But as of now we don’t have information about the source of infection,” a senior official said. The department will not be able to declare these as community infections until investigations are completed, he said.

App to self-assess Covid-19 infection

Puducherry government has launched an app to help people assess the risk of contracting Covid-19 infection. The ‘Test Yourself Puducherry’ application will make an assessment based on travel history, contact with people suspected with Covid-19 infection, the severity of the illness like cold, cough, breathlessness and risk factors like age and pre-existing medical conditions as laid down by ICMR and and Union health and family welfare ministry.

200 ambulances added to 108 fleet

The 73-year-old woman has comorbidities including hypertension, diabetes and asthma, he said.

Meanwhile, the cluster of the patients associated with the Thai and Indonesian patients also swelled. Two contacts of Thai nationals and another 61-year-old contact of Indonesian nationals also tested positive. They are being treated at IRT Perunduari Medical College Hospital and Salem Medical College Hospital. Two family members of the 54-year-old man who died in Madurai GRH were also found positive for the viral infection.

The chief minister said the state has ramped up the number of isolation beds to 15,000. These include an exclusive 500-bed covid-19 ward at the Omandurar Multi-speciality with all modern facilities. It has also appointed more than 500 doctors, 1000 nurses and 1500 lab technicians, he said. Two hundred ambulances have been added to the exiting 108-fleet. “We will be sending ambulances to pick and drop renal failure patients who need dialysis,” he said.

On Saturday, there were 277 patients in various hospital across the state and another 112 asymptomatic high-risk passengers in government quarantine facilities