COVID-19 cases in Tamil Nadu breach 10,000 mark

Tamil Nadu on Friday (May 15) crossed the 10,000 mark, with 434 people, including those who returned from abroad and other states like Maharashtra and Karnataka, testing positive for COVID-19, even as Chennai continues to be on the top with 5,946 patients.

The state’s tally now is 10,108 with 7,435 active cases, 2,599 recoveries and 71 deaths. For the second consecutive day, the positive cases fell below 500 and the number of recoveries today was 359, which is a good sign for the state that is battling a massive spike in numbers for the past few weeks.

Five deaths were reported on Friday with the daily COVID-19 bulletin released by the Health Department mentioning that all had co-morbid conditions. Besides the increasing number of deaths, the state has another reason to worry as 49 persons who returned from abroad and other states testing positive for coronavirus.

While six people who returned from Maldives testing positive for COVID-19, 40 who came from Maharashtra, two from Gujarat and one from Karnataka, have also contracted the virus. Tamil Nadu is testing every person who comes from abroad or other states in the country.

Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami had written to the Centre not to resume train traffic from other states to Chennai as the city is waging a battle against coronavirus with nearly 6,000 cases. As per the daily bulletin, 11,672 samples were tested on Friday, taking the number of total samples tested to 3,03,104, which is among the highest in the country.

In total, 2,90,906 individuals have been tested in Tamil Nadu since the outbreak began in March. Chennai, the biggest hotspot for coronavirus infection in the state, reported 309 cases, taking the total tally to 5,946.

The state has three major clusters – Koyambedu Market, foreign returnees, and Delhi conference – which has contributed to the majority of the 10,100-odd cases. The Koyambedu cluster has travelled across the state and to neighbouring Kerala and Andhra Pradesh.

Meanwhile, offices owned by the Tamil Nadu government will work for six days a week as they have been allowed to function with 50-percent of staff from May 18 on a rotational basis. A detailed order issued by the government on Friday says all Group ‘A’ officers should attend office on all six working days.

The government had on May 3 allowed government offices to open with 33-percent staff and has increased it to 50-percent as the third phase of lockdown ends on March 17. In the GO released on Friday, the government said the offices will function with half of its workforce on a rotational basis while announcing that it will be six days a week with Saturday being made a working day.