On Saturday alone, the state of Tamil Nadu reported 526 new cases of the novel coronavirus taking the state’s tally to 6,535. Out of those, over 3,000 cases have been reported from the capital city of Chennai.
Chennai has so far reported 3,325 positive cases so far out of which 545 have already been recovered successfully. Currently, the city has 2,752 active cases. Out of the total cases in Chennai, 1,867 have been from a single source place – Chennai’s Koyambedu wholesale market. The market has now been identified as a hotspot region. The state government has repeatedly issued calls appealing to people to strictly follow the health and travel advisories issued by the authorities.
On Saturday, the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami and his deputy O Panneerselvam went on the ground to inspect the Thirumazhisai satellite township. After the inspection, it has been decided that the Koyambedu vegetable market will be shifted to the Thirumazhisai satellite township area during the lockdown period of COVID-19. The market in Thirumazhisai will start functioning from Monday i.e. the 11th of May.
The situation worsens in Tamil Nadu
The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has sent teams to 10 states which have been badly hit to assist the state governments. One such team has been sent to Tamil Nadu as well. Tamil Nadu has so far seen 44 deaths in the state with a mortality rate of 0.67 percent which is significantly low compared to the national average that is around 3 percent. The state has so far conducted 2,29,670 tests out of which 6,535 have turned out to be positive. 1,824 people have successfully recovered from the disease with the state’s recovery at 27.91 percent. The CPM, confirmed per million, of the state is high at 86.33 against the national average of 47.57. The state of Tamil Nadu has a high rate of testing in the country with 3,034 tests per million.
Meanwhile, the state government under the leadership of Dr. C Rangarajan, the former governor of Reserve Bank of India, has constituted a high-level committee that would look at the long term and the medium-term impact of the COVID-19 on the state’s economy. It is said that the committee is also likely to assess the additional costs and implications that have arisen due to the social distancing and other precautionary measures.
Source: Livemint
