Four more persons have tested positive for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in the State. With this, Tamil Nadu has a total of 42 COVID-19 cases, including two persons who were discharged after treatment and another who died.
On Saturday, the Health Department said a 42-year-old man, a resident of Kumbakonam, returned from West Indies via Doha. He tested positive for COVID-19 and was admitted at the Government Medical College Hospital in Thanjavur. A total of 187 persons with whom he had come into contact have been traced.
A 49-year-old man, who is a resident of Katpadi, had returned from the U.K. and was admitted to Christian Medical College, Vellore. He had travelled to the country via Dubai. As many as 131 of his contacts have been traced.
The third patient — a 60-year-old man from Rajapalayam in Virudhunagar —also tested positive and was admitted to the Government Rajaji Hospital in Madurai. Health Secretary Beela Rajesh said the patient did not have a travel history to an affected country, but the authorities had found that he had come into contact with a person who had returned from abroad.
A 25-year-old man, a resident of West Mambalam in Chennai with a travel history to the U.S., also tested positive and was admitted to Global Hospital.
Dr. Rajesh said 11 of the 41 cases (at the time of speaking to reporters) had no travel history, and the authorities were tracing the source of infection.
Chennai accounted for the highest number of cases in the State. Seventeen of the 42 patients were from the city.
Stage 2
Dr. Rajesh said the State was in stage 2 of COVID-19 transmission. “We want to prevent the progression to stage 3, that is community spread of COVID-19,” she said. Stage 2 is when the infection is transmitted to the first-degree contacts of the COVID-19 positive patient (with travel history), she added.
“Many countries have tested many samples. For instance, if a person has returned from a foreign country and we test him/her today, he/she may test negative and may not have symptoms. But in the next 14 days, the person could develop symptoms on any day and turn positive. But once they test negative, they will not continue to be under home quarantine and would move outside. This is why our team of doctors carefully decided when to test. There are guidelines on when to test,” she said.
As of Saturday, 43,537 passengers were under home quarantine.
The number of persons admitted to hospitals remained the same as on Friday, at 277.
From 1,243 on Friday, the total number of samples sent for testing went up to 1,500. Of these, 65 samples were being processed, according to the bulletin issued by the Directorate of Public Health and Preventive Medicine.
During the 21-day lockdown, the department was working on the “expand, train and deploy” strategy, Dr. Rajesh said. The department is expanding the bed strength in isolation wards across the State. “Presently, there are 17,000 beds in isolation facilities. An action plan is being readied to expand their number to the maximum. Next, doctors are being trained. This includes those in the reserve force, volunteering doctors, AYUSH and non-clinical doctors. The public health force is involved in disinfection activities at the field level,” she explained.
As of now, there are 10 testing facilities in the government and four in the private sector. Measures are being taken to increase the testing capacity across the State. The quarantine facilities are also being augmented.
Apart from Block B of Government Medical College Hospital, Omandurar Estate, special COVID-19 isolation facilities have been established at the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital and Government Kilpauk Medical College Hospital. Health Minister C. Vijayabaskar inspected both the facilities on Saturday.
Underlying conditions
Dr. Rajesh said that three persons, including a two-year-old, who died on Saturday after being admitted to the Government Medical College Hospital in Kanniyakumari, had underlying conditions.
Their samples had been lifted to carry out tests for COVID-19, and the results were awaited, she added.
Source: https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/tamil-nadu/covid-19-cases-climb-to-42-in-state-chennai-accounts-for-17/article31195221.ece
