Entire Tamil Nadu declared coronavirus-prone
CHENNAI: The number of Covid 19 positive cases has risen significantly in Tamil Nadu, and the Public Health Department has declared the entire state as a Covid19- prone area. A notification said that all hospitals will have to communicate in writing if they come across any coronavirus patient.
“If they do not follow this, the licence of the hospital will be cancelled and legal action will be initiated,” the notification said.
All hospitals should be disinfected on a regular basis, the department said.
The numbers shot up after 110 people who returned to Tamil Nadu from Tablighi Jamaat meet in Delhi tested positive for the disease on Wednesday. That took the total number to 234.
Tamil Nadu has managed to locate most of those who attended the Delhi congregation from the state by Wednesday evening, officials said.
Results are awaited for most of the 1,103 Delhi delegates who came forward to be screened.
The 110 persons were in the following districts — 28 in Coimbatore, 20 in Theni, 17 in Dindigul, nine in Madurai, seven each in Tirupattur and Chengalpattu, six in Tirunelveli, five in Sivaganga, two each in Kancheepuram, Tiruvarur, Erode and Thoothukudi and one each in Karur, Tiruvannamalai and Chennai.
The health department has deployed field workers for door-to-door work. Wearing safety masks and armed with thermal scanners, field workers go to every household in areas where positive cases of Covid-19 have been reported in Tamil Nadu and screen everyone inside the house for fever and check for any symptoms of fever and cold.
The department said 3,698 field workers have panned out across 16 districts in the state, screening nearly 700,000 persons for symptoms of Covid-19 in 182,000 households since March 29 as part of its massive containment plan. The department has earmarked a 5-km containment zone and another 3 km as buffer zone based on the density of population for the exercise.
Meanwhile the government started the free ration programme for people on Thursday through ration outlets. People are given Rs1,000 cash assistance and essential commodities including rice and cooking oil free of cost across the state.
Chief Minister Palaniswami announced a Rs3.2 billion relief package on March 24, which includes cash to rice for ration card holders, and essential commodities such as rice, dhal, wheat, and sugar, to all categories of cards, free of cost in April.
Circles were drawn in front of ration outlets to regulate people and ensure social distancing. Serpentine queues of men and women could be seen in front of almost all shops in the state. Employees of the ration stores donned masks and hand sanitisers were also made available in a number of shops.