Tamil Nadu’s Covid-19 hotspot Chennai has reported seven new cases of coronavirus on Saturday, which has taken the tally in the city to 235. Chennai is the worst-hit city in Tamil Nadu, followed by Coimbatore and Tirupur with 128 and 108 cases respectively.
As on Saturday evening, 49 new cases of Covid-19 have been reported in Tamil Nadu, taking the state’s total coronavirus tally to 1,372.
Meanwhile, with 82 patients being discharged on Saturday the state has reported a total of 365 recoveries so far.
The death toll in Tamil Nadu is 15.
Health Minister Vijayabaskar said that containment plan and aggressive testings are being done in Tamil Nadu now. He added that mass disinfection is being done in the state, and the state government is taking all precautionary measures to fight the pandemic.
Vijayabaskar said that rapid testing has begun in Tamil Nadu as per the ICMR (Indian Council of Medical Research) guidelines and added that these tests are only “indicators” as the confirmation is given by the RT-PCR ( Real Time Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction) test.
“We have asked ICMR for plasma treatment and an approval has been given. We are waiting for the second approval from ICMR,” Vijayabaskar informed.
Tamil Nadu Medical Services Corporation MD Umanath said that the state has procured Covid-19 medical kits only from enlisted firms and at the cost fixed by the Central government. Umanath showed documents to reporters, revealing that the Tamil Nadu government purchased rapid kits at Rs 600 per kit.
The state had ordered 24,000 rapid test kits from China and 12,000 from Centre have arrived. Meanwhile, five lakh rapid test kits have also been ordered.
Earlier today DMK Chief MK Stalin had demanded transparency of the procurement cost and the number of kits procured.
Source: https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/tamil-nadu-chennai-coronavirus-covid19-cases-total-latest-april-18-1668449-2020-04-18
