TN records dip in cases after 10 days with 447 testing positive

Recording a dip for the first time in 10 days, the State reported 447 COVID-19 cases on Thursday and two deaths, taking the Statewide tally to 9,674 and toll to 66.

Published: 15th May 2020 06:06 AM | Last Updated: 15th May 2020 03:10 PM | A+A A-

Migrants workers from Assam gathered at Assam Bhawan, urging authorities to send them back

By Express News Service

CHENNAI: Recording a dip for the first time in 10 days, the State reported 447 COVID-19 cases on Thursday and two deaths, taking the Statewide tally to 9,674 and toll to 66. As many as 363 of the 447 cases are from Chennai, which now has 5,637 cases.

“Our aggressive testing policy, early diagnosis, proper treatment protocol and clinical management have helped keep the mortality rate at just 0.67 per cent,” said Health Minister C Vijayabaskar. “Experts have heaped praises on the State for testing such a large number of people,” he said in a televised briefing.
The State currently has 58 labs, and has tested over 2.9 lakh samples till date.

Meanwhile, an expert team appointed by the government said that considering the present situation, it was of the opinion that the lockdown must be lifted only in a phased manner. “Testing must be increased further, to ascertain the pattern of spread,” said ICMR scientist Prabhdeep Kaur, who is part of the panel. “Based on this, steps must be taken for contact tracing and isolation.”

The State government is now faced with a new challenge as people stranded in other States and countries have begun returning home, Vijayabaskar noted.“Today, 1,706 are coming back from Delhi by train. Another 1,100 will come on Saturday. A team of 400 has been formed to quarantine and test all of them,” he said. The government is also revising its treatment, testing policies on the advice of rapid response teams, and this is helping the State, he added.

During the screening 22 people who returned from Maharashtra and two from Qatar tested positive on Thursday.“All persons returning to the State must be rigourously tested to avoid anymore clusters,” said P Kugananthem, a member of the experts panel. The expert committee has recommended special attention for patients with co-morbid conditions. The two deaths reported on Thursday — a 43-year-old man and a 45-year-old woman — were patients with co-morbid conditions, admitted to the RGGGH in Chennai.