35% people not wearing masks, CM tells officers

35% people not wearing masks, CM tells officers

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:29.10.2020 

Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami on Wednesday said 35% of the population in the state was not wearing masks and that the district administrators should ensure strict compliance of rules. The government has distributed 46 lakh reusable cloth masks to the poor in Chennai, and 4.95 crore in the rest of the state.

During a video conference with district collectors ahead of extending the lockdown, the chief minister said, “People are careless and don’t wear masks, unaware of the severity of the disease. The administration should get them to comply with.” Palaniswami pointed to the Deepavali festive season and the rush on streets and told the local bodies to pay special attention to spray disinfectants in the Covid-infected areas.

The districts that record more than 100 cases a day should bring them below 100 ahead of Deepavali, while those that record less than 100 should get them below 50, and districts that see 50 cases a day should see nil cases, the collectors were told.

Palaniswami said the opposition should stop defaming his government’s Covid-management given that the virus spread was getting reduced in the state. The neighbouring states, which the opposition was pointing to earlier to ease the curbs, were lately seeing a high number of cases, he said.

The state government has spent ₹7,372 crore towards Covid-management, including ₹1,983 crore towards health expenditure. The number of daily cases has come down to less than 3,000 in the past four days and active cases also reduced to 30,000. Recovery rate has been 94.57% and the death rate 1.53%.

Pondy positivity rate 2.7%

Puducherry: After two days of zero Covid-19 deaths, Puducherry reported two fatalities on Wednesday. The death toll of the Union territory is 590. The UT’s fatality rate is 1.7%. The territory reported 102 fresh cases even as 154 patients were discharged, bringing down active cases to 3,686. Positivity rate was 2.7%, the lowest in the last three months.