CHENNAI: Covid-19 infections showed no signs of abating in Tamil Nadu with fresh cases topping 1,500 in a day for the first time on Sunday, taking the tally to 31,667. The state also recorded 18 deaths, including that of a pregnant woman, pushing the toll to 269.
Chennai continued to bear the brunt, with 1,156 of the 1,515 new cases, pushing up the demand for hospital beds. For the first time in days, the number of people under treatment in the city, 10,982, exceeded the number of those cured, 10,954, on Sunday.
Government hospitals in Chennai remained crowded and patients had to be rushed to private hospitals, which were also filling up. Private hospitals in the city had 1,048 beds free as of Sunday, as per the dashboard of the government. And their ICUs had just 97 beds vacant. Beds are available on demand only in private medical college hospitals in the southern and western suburbs. This means, the patients, even those with severe symptoms, have to be driven more than 10 to 15km for a bed.
Chennai’s neighbouring districts didn’t have a respite either. Chengalpet topped the list with 135 cases, Tiruvallur had 55, and Kancheepuram 16.
The pregnant woman who died was a 20-year-old admitted to the Vellore government medical college and hospital with gestational hypertension. She was admitted on May 31, tested positive on June 6 and died the next day.
The state government tested 15,671 people on Sunday and allowed two more private labs to do Covid-19 tests. As testing has been stepped up, the government has also put in place a system to ensure quality of testing at these labs. Under the scheme, each lab will send 10 samples to apex labs in their district. The apex lab, which doesn't know the results of these 10 samples, will test again and send results to DPH. The results are cross-checked at DPH. By this, the government will get to know if all labs are releasing correct results. Currently, tests are done in 44 government labs and 34 private labs in the state.
Chennai continued to bear the brunt, with 1,156 of the 1,515 new cases, pushing up the demand for hospital beds. For the first time in days, the number of people under treatment in the city, 10,982, exceeded the number of those cured, 10,954, on Sunday.
Government hospitals in Chennai remained crowded and patients had to be rushed to private hospitals, which were also filling up. Private hospitals in the city had 1,048 beds free as of Sunday, as per the dashboard of the government. And their ICUs had just 97 beds vacant. Beds are available on demand only in private medical college hospitals in the southern and western suburbs. This means, the patients, even those with severe symptoms, have to be driven more than 10 to 15km for a bed.
Chennai’s neighbouring districts didn’t have a respite either. Chengalpet topped the list with 135 cases, Tiruvallur had 55, and Kancheepuram 16.
The pregnant woman who died was a 20-year-old admitted to the Vellore government medical college and hospital with gestational hypertension. She was admitted on May 31, tested positive on June 6 and died the next day.
The state government tested 15,671 people on Sunday and allowed two more private labs to do Covid-19 tests. As testing has been stepped up, the government has also put in place a system to ensure quality of testing at these labs. Under the scheme, each lab will send 10 samples to apex labs in their district. The apex lab, which doesn't know the results of these 10 samples, will test again and send results to DPH. The results are cross-checked at DPH. By this, the government will get to know if all labs are releasing correct results. Currently, tests are done in 44 government labs and 34 private labs in the state.
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