Officials inspect COVID-19 hospital

Exclusive facilities being created across State, says Health Minister

01/04/2020, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT, CHENNAI

Exclusive isolation facilities for COVID-19 patients are being created across the State, Health Minister C. Vijayabaskar said.

The Minister, along with Roshini Arthur, senior regional director, Regional Office of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, and two officials of World Health Organisation, Country Office, India, inspected the facility at the Government Medical College Hospital in Omandurar Estate.

Speaking to reporters, Dr. Arthur said they inspected Tamil Nadu’s first dedicated COVID-19 hospital to check the preparedness, infrastructure, human resources, equipment and adherence to protocols.

“Tamil Nadu, especially Chennai, has a good dedicated COVID-19 unit here. There are three dedicated blocks. There is an outpatient facility on the ground floor with infection protocols in place, sample collection area, waiting room, counselling room and pharmacy as per guidelines. There are 150 isolation beds with spacing, equipment, and disinfection protocols. In addition, another 200 beds for an intermediate care unit is available with 75 ICU beds and 125 step down beds,” she said.

She said protocols for biomedical waste, dietary, treatment guidelines are in place. Staff members on rotation for seven days for IMCU are in place. There are specialists, including pulmonologists, radiologists and physicians, to man the facilities, apart from portable X-ray, ultrasound, and CT equipment

“We suggest that more such dedicated COVID-19 centres be opened in all of Tamil Nadu,” she added.

Like in Chennai, which has a 500-bed facility with intensive care unit and ventilators at Government Medical College Hospital, Omandurar Estate, separate blocks in Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital, Government Stanley Medical College Hospital, Kilpauk Medical College Hospital and ESI Hospital, Ayanavaram, exclusive facilities for COVID-19 are being created across the State, Dr. Vijayabaskar said. “The condition of all patients is stable. None of them is on ventilatory support,” he said.

CM announces 3-month deferral of property tax, co-op loan dues

Move to benefit middle- and low-income groups, farmers and entrepreneurs

01/04/2020,DENNIS S. JESUDASAN  CHENNAI

Discussing strategy: Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami calling on Governor Banwarilal Purohit at the Raj Bhavan in Chennai on Tuesday. Special arrangement

Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami on Tuesday announced the deferment of co-operative loan repayment, property tax and other dues by three months in view of the COVID-19 lockdown. The measures would benefit middle- and low-income groups, farmers and entrepreneurs.

The Chief Minister also called on Governor Banwarilal Purohit at the Raj Bhavan to brief him on the measures taken by the government to deal with the pandemic and its impact.

He announced an extension of the deadline for the payment of property tax and water charges to the local bodies by three months, until June 30.

“Many firms are not in a position to pay salaries and businesses have been severely affected. Daily-wage labourers are among the worst-affected. We are hoping that the CM's announcement would bring them temporary relief as far as their dues are concerned,” a top official told The Hindu.

Mr. Palaniswami announced a three-month extension of the deadline (until June 30) for the repayment of loans obtained from co-operative banks, fishermen’s cooperative societies and handloom weavers’ cooperative societies.

He extended by three months the deadline for the payment of dues to co-operative housing societies and the Tamil Nadu Housing Board, until June 30.

He also announced an extension of the deadline for the repayment of loans obtained by Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), which have obtained loans from the Tamil Nadu Industrial Investment Corporation (TIIC) Limited.

The deadline for the repayment of soft loans obtained from the State Industries Promotion Corporation of Tamil Nadu Limited (Sipcot) has been extended by three months. The deadline for the payment of operational and maintenance costs by units located in Sipcot industrial parks has also been extended by three months.

Mr. Palaniswami said a ‘COVID Relief and Development Scheme’ would be implemented, with an allocation of ₹200 crore for providing loans to help meet the urgent capital requirements of around 2,000 MSME units that have obtained loans from TIIC.

He also extended till June 30 the validity of various licences and fitness certificates obtained under the Motor Vehicles Act, which were due for renewal. The same will apply to licences obtained under the Weights & Measures Act and the Tamil Nadu Shops & Establishments Act that are due for renewal. “Medical experts are insisting that people should remain indoors and prevent the State from entering stage 3 [of the pandemic]. The people should follow the time restrictions announced by the State government for getting essential supplies. I urge the people not to believe rumours. The State government will take severe action against rumour-mongers,” Mr. Palaniswami said.

Salary contributed

01/04/2020, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT,KARAIKUDI

The Vice-Chancellor, officers, teaching and non-teaching staff of the Alagappa University here have decided to contribute one-day salary towards the COVID-19 fund. The Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami had appealed to the people to liberally donate to the CM Public Relief Fund to fight the spread of the COVID-19 virus in the State. According to a press release issued here on Tuesday, Registrar Prof. H Gurumallesh Prabu, they would contribute the one-day salary to the fund.

Sudden spurt in admission to isolation ward panics people

There is a spate of calls to know if they tested positive for COVID-19

01/04/2020, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT,TIRUNELVELI

The admission of 23 of the 24 persons, who attended a religious conference in Delhi recently, in the isolation ward of Tirunelveli Medical College Hospital, where one COVID – 19 positive person is already undergoing treatment has triggered panic among the public.

Since only three persons had been in the isolation ward till Monday and one youth from Samooharengapuram, who tested positive for COVID – 19, is undergoing medication in the ‘treatment ward’, there was a little relief among the residents here as they console themselves with the thought that penetration of the pandemic in one of the hottest districts of Tamil Nadu is less.

When the social media were abuzz on Tuesday with the information that 23 persons had been admitted to the TVMCH’s isolation ward, most of the residents here lost their peace. Besides making calls frantically to the journalists to confirm the panicky news that they have received, they also wanted to know if they had tested positive for COVID – 19.

Of the 24 persons, 17 are from Melapalayam, 3 from Pettai, 2 from Valliyoor, 1 each from Kalakkad and Seythunganallur near Palayamkottai in Thoothoukudi district.

Sources in the Tirunelveli Medical College Hospital here said 23 of the 24 persons, who attended the Tablighi Jamaat conference in Delhi, had COVID – 23 symptoms and had been admitted to the isolation ward.

“We’ve lifted samples from these cases and we, at this stage, cannot say anything on this issue. We’ve to crosscheck the results we got at TVMCH with the results with a Pune-based lab,” a senior doctor of TVMCH said without saying anything concrete about the outcome of the clinical investigations done here.

Another senior doctor of TVMCH said the samples would usually be sent for crosschecking only when the patients test positive for a viral infection.

“Since the samples of these 23 patients have been sent to Pune for crosschecking or confirmation, one can infer that they might be COVID – 19 positive as per the results of TVMCH,” he explained.

Effective steps have controlled spread of virus in Tamil Nadu, says Minister

Home delivery of bags of 22 grocery items for ₹1,000 in Virudhunagar

01/04/2020, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT,VIRUDHUNAGAR

Minister for Dairy Development K.T. Rajenthra Bhalaji, along with Virudhunagar Collector R. Kannan, reviewing precautionary measures taken to check spread of COVID-19 infection at Virudhunagar on Tuesday.ma01minister

Despite having a higher population than Italy, Tamil Nadu had a far less number of COVID-19-infected people, thanks to the right action taken at the right time by Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami, said Dairy Development Minister K.T. Rajenthra Bhalaji.

Reviewing the COVID-19 preventive measures being taken at a few local bodies here on Tuesday, Mr. Bhalaji said that precautionary measures were being taken on a war footing.

“The CM has been working hard day and night to contain the spread of the viral infection with a view to safeguarding the people of Tamil Nadu and migrant workers in the State,” he said.

Mr. Palaniswami had declared a lockdown in the State even before Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the curfew across the country, he added.

The effective steps taken by the officials of various departments had contained the spread of the virus with the death of only one person, who had contacts with those from other countries, he said. Mr. Bhalaji asked officials to continue closely monitoring disinfecting activities taken up across the district. Community kitchens were catering to the aged, differently abled, mentally retarded and homeless people as well as those living below poverty line, he added.

Collector R. Kannan said that bags of 22 essential grocery items were being door-delivered to the people. He said that the grocery items were grown in rain-fed regions without using chemical fertilizers.

The bag contains turmeric, cumin seeds, saum, muster, fenugreek, pepper, toor dal, urad dal, moong dal, black chenna, tamarind, fried gram, sugar, broad beans, wheat flour, asafoetida powder, red chilli, rava, edible oil, salt and a tea packet. The goods came at a cost of ₹1,000.

People from Sivakasi, Sattur, Virudhunagar and Aruppukottai could call 97509-43814 and 97599-43816 and 92454-12800. The goods would be delivered within 24 hours.

Toiling hard on streets with immense satisfaction

Residents are moved by conservancy workers’ laudable dedication

01/04/2020, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT,TIRUNELVELI

No one is watching them even from a distance. But the conservancy workers, sporting masks and gloves, clean the garbage scattered everywhere along the almost deserted roads of Drivers’ Colony in NGO Colony. While a male conservancy worker with the long garden broom gathers garbage strewn all around, two female workers collect the degradable and the non-degradable waste in separate bins kept in a battery-operated garbage vehicle.

“Vanakkm Amma... Romba nandri amma,”... the greetings from Drivers’ Colony Residents’ Welfare Association president Nallaperumal diverts the conservancy workers’ attention from collecting the garbage and they reciprocate it with folded hands and broad smile. And their work continues even as everyone is behind doors of this middle class residential area as COVID -19 scare is everywhere.

The conservancy workers, drawing paltry daily wages, start their work at 6 a.m. sharp and the work continues until the target given for them for the day is achieved. Besides cleaning the garbage, the conservancy workers desilt the drainage channels, sprinkle bleaching powder along these desilted drainage channels, spray disinfectants around the wet nauseating silt and their colleagues remove this silt in the lorries once it dries-up.

The cash-starved and short-staffed Corporation has deployed 1,077 conservancy workers in Tirunelveli, Thatchanallur, Palayamkottai and Melapalayam Zones to carry-out the cleaning operations in the wake of the dreaded pandemic threat. Their laudable work attracts everyone’s attention as they, without anything from anyone, concentrate on their work. Since there is no roadside teashop, they have to wait for the arrival of a vendor without stopping their work.

Apart from this routine work, conservancy workers in small groups are taken for cleaning operation and putting lime powder circles in the temporary vegetable markets created with 479 shops to ensure ‘personal distancing’ to avert community transmission of SARS –CoV- 2 virus.

Moreover, the conservancy workers deployed along the streets housing the individuals under home quarantine have to spray disinfectants thrice a day besides the regular work of keeping these areas clean. The increased arrival of the homeless and the labourers to the ‘Amma Unavagam’ has burdened them with more work.

Most of their families have three children and most of them are studying in the schools.

“We’ve told them not to come out of our houses as COVID – 19 threat is everywhere,” the women conservancy workers say even as their work continues.

Though most of these workers are entangled in debt and their borrowings from the local moneylenders continue, there is no sign of worries on their face as they draw immense satisfaction from their work.

“This is the job that feeds us and our families... We should do it with utmost dedication and do it as we do usually even as pandemic threat looms large everywhere now,” the conservancy workers say while leaving the Drivers’ Colony area with the collected garbage even as no one is monitoring them.

‘Exodus could have been avoided’

PM should have consulted States before announcing lockdown, says Baghel

01/04/2020, SOBHANA K. NAIR ,NEW DELHI

The displacement of lakhs of migrants could have been avoided had Prime Minister Narendra Modi first consulted the State governments, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel said in an interview to The Hindu.

“Who is to implement the lockdown? Can the Union government on its own do so? The answer is no. Ultimately, it’s the State government’s job to implement it. Did the Prime Minister talk to any of the State governments before unilaterally announcing it? No,” Mr. Baghel said, speaking over phone from Raipur.

Chhattisgarh has reported seven COVID-19 cases, with no deaths so far.

It was one of the first States to announce a lockdown on March 21, four days before Mr. Modi announced a nationwide 21-day lockdown.

“We have the Mumbai-Howrah highway cutting across the State and could not have taken a chance,” Mr. Baghel said the citing reason for an early lockdown.

The Union government should have reached out to the industry also and the economic package should have precluded the lockdown. It should have anticipated that once the lockdown was implemented scores of persons would not be able to earn a living and would obviously head out to places where they felt more secure, Mr. Baghel said.

“We are staring at a severe economic crisis,” he said.

“All skilled and unskilled labourers have left the factories because of the lockdown. The wheels of all industries have come to a screeching halt. I am no economist, but surely, we will see the economic impact of this lockdown in years to come,” he said.

The lockdown, he added, would have a similar impact of pulling down the economy as demonetisation had.

The Chief Minister said that there was a crying need for a second economic package to reach out to those who did not benefit from Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s announcements of March 26 such as the landless labourers and workers in the unorganised sector, among others.

‘Pay MNREGA workers’

In a recent letter to Mr. Modi, Mr. Baghel had suggested that ₹1,000 a month should be transferred to MNREGA and workers in the unorganised sector for the next three months.

Instead of the promised ₹500 to women Jan Dhan account holders, Mr. Bhagel suggested that ₹750 must be transferred and the scheme should be extended to men too.

“The only way to avert an economic crisis is to infuse financial liquidity and increase the purchasing power of the end consumer. The Union government will have to move swiftly in this direction,” Mr. Baghel added.