Coronavirus: Tamil Nadu toll hits 5, positive count 571 with 76 new cases

TNN | Updated: Apr 6, 2020, 06:06 IST

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CHENNAI: A 60-year-old man who had attended the Tablighi Jamaat congregation in Delhi last month died on Sunday taking Tamil Nadu's Covid-19 toll to five, while the count of those testing positive touched 571 with 76 more cases reported. The Tablighi Jamaat cluster's count went up by 75 to 522.
The 60-year-old man was admitted to Stanley Medical College Hospital on Wednesday with fever, cough and chest congestion. He later tested positive for the viral infection. "He was initially stable. He had diabetes and hypertension both of which are risk factors ," said a doctor attending on him. On Saturday, he developed respiratory distress and was connected to the ventilator at 7pm. "Despite resuscitative measures he could not be revived. He died of cardio-respiratory arrest at 1.45am on Sunday," the doctor said. His family members have been isolated and their samples have been taken for test.
Former minister and Ramanathapuram MLA M Manikandan of the AIADMK and 49 others, who attended the funeral of a 71-year-old man with travel history to Dubai and whose samples came positive for Covid-19, have been home quarantined. The man had died at hospital on April 2, but his test results came only on Saturday. The man's body was taken to Keezhakarai in Ramanathapuram district where the last rites were conducted on Friday.
Health dept revises protocol for deaths
Public health officials tracked the family members who travelled with the body and all others who took part in the last rites. On Saturday night, the directorate of public health issued revised protocols making it mandatory for all deaths following severe acute respiratory infection to be considered Covid-19 until tests show otherwise.
Ruling out community transmission, health secretary Beela Rajesh said, “We are also testing people hospitalised with severe acute respiratory syndrome.” So far, the state has screened more than 650 such cases, of which four were positive. “All four had travel or contact history. This indicates we do not have community transmission,” she said.
Seven patients are showing symptoms such as cough and respiratory problems but none are critical or on ventilator support, she said. “We, however, have been seeing quick deterioration and death in some patients,” she added. For instance, the patient who died on Sunday morning was doing well until last evening. He was put on ventilator but could not be revived, said Beela Rajesh. She appealed to people to take the Covid warning signs seriously and seek medical help immediately.
Expressing concern that those under home quarantine were not adhering to the rules, she said the government did not want to encourage testing at home. “Many people do not follow quarantine norms,” she said. “In hospitals too, we want patients to complete the quarantine period even if they test negative. In some cases, people showed symptoms and later tested positive,” she said.
The focus of the government, she said, was to aggressively contain the virus spread. The state has screened more than 38 lakh people in 9.2 lakh houses across the state. People with fever, cough and respiratory disorders are being isolated and tested.
The state has tested more than 4,600 samples. “The turnaround time is at least six hours. In some places, samples have to be moved to another district for testing, adding to the delay. We have fewer cases than Maharashtra but have done more tests,” she said.