To fight new strain, masks, distancing must

To fight new strain, masks, distancing must

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai  24.12.2020

: Twelve people died and Tamil Nadu added 1,066 positive cases to the Covid-19 registry on Wednesday. This pushed the cumulative toll to 12,024 and case tally to 8,10,080. There were 9,314 active cases until noon on Wednesday.

Among those tested positive there were two people with travel history to Karnataka, one each from Bihar and Bangladesh. All of them came into the state by road, public health officials said. “At least 30 people travelled to Tamil Nadu from the UK after the travel ban. All of them underwent RT-PCR test. Sofar,oneof them is positivefor the viral infection,” said health secretary J Radhakrishnan.

The state is awaiting information on whether this person carries the UK strain from the National Institute of Virology in Pune. “We don’t know much about this variant as it is still under investigation. The patient is asymptomatic and is being monitored by our doctors,” he said. “The best thing people can do now is wear masks and ensure they maintain social distancing at all times,” he said.

On Wednesday, barring Perambalur and Ramanathapuram all districts reported fresh cases of Covid-19, while deaths were reported from seven districts. The worst affected district, Chennai, reported 302 cases and five deaths. With 109 fresh cases, Coimbatore reported the second highest number of cases. Namakkal, which had two deaths, was the district to record the highest number of deaths after Chennai. Five other districts – Coimbatore, Madurai, Ranipet, Salem and Thiruvallur – reported one death each. Chengalpet reported 77 new cases.

Eleven districts reported a single digit increase in cases. While Dharmapuri and Thiruvannamalai reported nine cases, Nagapattinam, Pudukottai, Theni and Tuticorin reported seven cases each. Sivaganga and Tenkasi reported three new cases each and three other districts, Ariyalur, Kallakurichi and Thirupathur, reported two cases each.

The 11 northern districts together reported 556 new cases andseven deaths.Thisincluded 477 cases and six deaths from Chennai. After the North, the eight western districts reported 293 cases and four deaths. While the 10 southern districts together clocked 131 cases and one death, the central zone had 86 cases.

Pondy recovery rate above 97%

Puducherry: The Union territory of Puducherry reported 34 fresh Covid-19 cases even as 44 patients recovered bringing down the number of active cases to 350 on Wednesday. As many as 172 active cases are under home isolation and treatment. The Union territory has so far reported 37,845 cases of which 36,866 patients recovered registering a recovery rate of 97.4%. Puducherry headquarters has the maximum number of active cases with 180 followed by Mahe (119), Karaikal (43) and Yanam (8). The fatality rate of infection stood at 1.7%. The Union territory did not report any Covid-19 death and the death toll remained at 629 on Wednesday. TNN