Chennai headed for zero COVID-19 cases

CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu resumed anti-covid vaccination on Thursday, as fresh doses arrived after a suspension of two days. At the same time, the anti-covid battle was seen acheiving definite gains as the test positivity rate (TPR) in Chennai dipped below one per cent for the first time.

The TPR stood at 0.88 per cent on Wednesday. In February, it was at 1.2 per cent, but soared in the second wave to reach the peak on May 11 at 27.7 per cent.

Chennai registered 257 cases in the last 24 hours, officials said on Thursday. With this, the total number of persons affected by the pandemic in the metropolis has touched 5,32,529.

Vaccine shots were immediately despatched to all districts.

In June, the state was given 4.2 million doses of vaccines and the Union government allocated an additional 500,000 doses. Another 250,000 doses which were sanctioned add up to this, taking the total allocation for Tamil Nadu to 4.95 million doses.

As the vaccine stock ran out on Monday, Chief Minister M K Stalin urged Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare Dr. Harsh Vardhan to increase the allocation of vaccines to the state and also increase the sub-allocation of vaccines for government institutions to 90 per cent.

He pointed out that under the new liberalised vaccination policy, the Union government is buying 75 per cent of the vaccines and the rest are being provided to private hospitals, to allow them to vaccinate better-off individuals on payment basis.

“While I agree that a part of the available vaccines has to be shared with the private institutions, I wish to bring to your notice the fact that this 25 per cent allocation to private hospitals is grossly higher when compared to the actual vaccinations done by them,” he wrote.

Officials said on Thursday that, with the number of Covid-19 cases steadily reducing in the state, the containment zones have also reduced. Last month there were 6,022 containment zones and this has now come down to 3,724 zones.

With 623 containment zones, Chennai stands first. Coimbatore has 578 zones.

Cases were dipping in Coimbatore also, after a steep rise in the second wave.

According to a survey by Localcircles, on an aggregate basis, 59 per cent of Tamil Nadu residents rated the state government’s handling of Covid second wave as effective or higher.

Tamil Nadu has emerged as the top state in its overall handling of the second Covid-19 wave.