Cases in Chennai, Chengalpet, Coimbatore plateau over 2 wks

SHOT OF HOPE

Cases in Chennai, Chengalpet, Coimbatore plateau over 2 wks

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:21.02.2021 

The surge in cases in the districts of Chennai, Coimbatore and Chengalpet has almost plateaued over the past two weeks although several districts across the state are reporting fewer cases.

On Saturday, Tamil Nadu added 438 cases and six deaths to the state Covid-19 registry. After 459 discharges, there were 4,120 people still under treatment for the viral infection.

In 2021, the state has added 29,809 fresh cases including 9,483 in the last 20 days. Since January, Chennai has added 8684 cases, Coimbatore 3079 and Chengalpet 2377. All other districts have reported below 1,500 cases in the last eight  weeks. “We have fewer cases and deaths from across the state. But isolated clusters reported from birthday parties, luncheons, weddings and funerals in cities like Chennai and Coimbatore are not helping us push the curve further down. Some districts like Chengalpet have similar issues,” said health secretary J Radhakrishnan.

Between February 14 and February 20, Chennai reported 992 new cases, Coimbatore reported 305 and Chengalpet added 281. “During contact tracing, we found many people are ignoring masks and social distancing. Even people who have taken the vaccine cannot avoid these,” he said.

On Saturday, with 139 new cases Chennai continued to top the case table followed by 47 in Coimbatore and 41 in Chengalpet. While Tiruvallur reported 31 cases, all other districts reported less than 25 cases. While Karur, Perambalur and Villupuram reported no new cases, 24 districts reported a single digit increase.

Besides cases, the number of deaths has marginally increased in Chennai. In the week between February 14 and February 20, Chennai reported double the number of deaths

(16) compared to 8 deaths between February 7 and 13. On Saturday, Chennai reported three deaths, while Chengalpet,Thanjavur andVillupuram reported one each. The sevenday average in daily cases has dropped from 499 in the first week of February to 453 this week, but during the same period the average number of deaths reported every day has increased from four to six. While 98% of people have been cured, the death rate is stable at 1.5% since September 2020.

However, epidemiologists say overall, the state has been faring well. The test positivity rate in the state is stable at 0.9 for the past four weeks. In the last one week, the positivity rate in Chennai (1.3), Coimbatore (1.5_ and Chengalpet (1.4) have been higher than the state average, along with Erode(1.1), Salem (1.2) and Tiruvallur (1.3). The doubling period for cases – time it takes for the cases to double- in the state has now increased to 1294 compared to 530 days on January 1.With 25 new cases since January, Perambalur reported the lowest number of cases followed by Ariyalur, which added 88 new cases to its registry this year. Tamil Nadu vaccinated 20563 people including 5414 people who came for the second dose of the vaccine at 677 vaccination centres across the state. With this the recipient tally in the state reached 3,70,612. With this, 2,96,155 healthcare providers, 43,876 frontline workers and 30,581 policemen have taken the vaccine in the state.

Second wave unlikely in TN: Health min

Health minister Dr C Vijayabaskar said the chances of a second wave of Covid-19 in Tamil Nadu were very remote. He was speaking to reporters at Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Government Hospital after taking his second shot of Covaxin here on Saturday. “. The doctors and nurses have become experts in handling Covid-19 patients, be they aged or with comorbid conditions. We have brought down the death rate drastically. Initially, it was challenging and we panicked, but we are relaxed now because of the steps taken by the chief minister,” the minister said. TNN

Over 8K vaccinated in Pondy so far

In all, 777 healthcare workers and 20 frontline workers were vaccinated on Saturday in Puducherry. So far, 8,051 healthcare workers and 407 frontline workers have got the vaccine.The Union territory reported 29 fresh cases even as 18 patients recovered taking the total number of active cases to 188 on Saturday. Of the 188 cases, 93 are under home isolation and treatment. Puducherry headquarters has the maximum active cases 124 followed by Mahe with 44 and Karaikal with 20. Yanam is infection-free. The territory did not report any Covid-19 death and the death toll stood at 662. TNN