Min: Virus spreading at lightning speed in TN

1K MORE BEDS FOR CITY

Min: Virus spreading at lightning speed in TN

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:10.06.2020

Health minister C Vijayabaskar on Tuesday said Covid-19 cases are “spreading at lightning speed across the state” and promised 1,100 more hospital beds for worst-hit Chennai.

TN Covid-19 cases touched 34,914 with 1,685 people reported infected on Tuesday. Chennai accounted for 1,242 of the cases and 36 were returnees from other states and abroad. The state also recorded its highest single-day death toll so far, 21.

“We have kept 500 beds ready at the newly constructed Institute of Ageing inside King Institute of Preventive Medicine campus. All these beds have adequate oxygen supply. We also have ventilators on campus to treat the critically ill. We will be posting MBBS doctors, specialists and paramedical staff soon,” he said. The facility is to be used to quarantine the elderly and vulnerable population.

In addition, there will be 300 beds at the Chennai Port hospital and an equal number of them at the old block of the Government Ophthalmic Hospital in Egmore. “We have increased the number of people who are being tested.

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As a result we are finding more people testing positive, particularly in Chennai, Vijayabaskar said. The state is expected to see 1.3 lakh cases by the month-end, according to predictions by various agencies including the Tamil Nadu Dr MGR Medical Universities. “We have been given similar predictions by other agencies. We are taking note of all predictions and preparing for the spike,” Vijayabaskar said.

By the end of the day, 16,279 people in the state, including 12,570 in Chennai, were being treated for Covid 19. Chennai’s neighbours Chengalpattu (158), Tiruvallur (90), and Kancheepuram (32) added 280 cases on Tuesday. The three districts had 2,157 active cases, some of whom were being treated in Chennai.

As case load increased, more people showed severe symptomsof the ailments.Officials at the directorate of public health maintained that less than five people in government hospitals were on ventilator – the data is not in public domain. The government dashboard shows that in designated private hospitals 45 of the 163 ventilators and 133 of 236 ICU beds were in use although nearly threefourths of the isolation beds were vacant. “We have asked private medical colleges to allot at least 50% of their beds for Covid care,” said health secretary Beela Rajesh.

More people are reporting sick to hospitals, she said. Four of the 21deaths reported on Tuesday occurred within a day of admission to hospitals. Five people including a 30-year-old man had no comorbidities. There were two people each in their 30s and 80s, one each in 40s and 90s, six each in 50s and 70s, and three of them in 60s.

While Chennai had one “imported case” all the cases in districts were from within. In addition, Madurai and Vellore logged 16 cases each. , Tiruvannamalai, which also reported 16 cases from with had three returnees testing positive. Tirunelveli and Thootukudi recorded 10 cases each, while 18 other other districts recorded a single digit increase. Among the 36 returnees,fivewerefrom other countries such as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Maldives.

On Tuesday 798 walked out of hospitals taking the total number of people cured of the viral infection to18,325.