Health Minister K.K. Shylaja has called for heightened vigil against COVID-19 in the district. She was addressing mediapersons on the sidelines of a programme on mental health during COVID-19.
The Minister said though the number of cases in the district was low, it had a floating population, with a large number of people coming from other districts and States, especially border districts of Tamil Nadu, for medical and other needs. Hence, there was need to remain vigilant.
The Minister ruled out lapses on the part of General Hospital (GH) and Government Medical College Hospital (MCH) in performing COVID-19 tests on a 67-year-old patient from Vanchiyoor who died on June 12. Reports on the medical aspects were awaited.
Collector’s view
The District Collector on Wednesday had indicated that report from the hospitals on the incident were unsatisfactory. “We cannot say there has been a lapse. In such a pandemic, lot of unexpected things do happen. We need to learn from it,” Ms. Shylaja said.
The Minister denied that there were 80 cases in the State whose source could not be traced. “In a majority of cases where source was said to be unknown, these have been traced.”
On the exact number of such cases, she said figures had been sought from the districts and would be available soon.
Charges for tests
Asked about charges for COVID-19 tests in private labs, she said the State had issued an order in this regard, with charges for each kind of test specified. The charges in the State would be lower than that in other States, the Minister said.
The Minister refuted that quarantine centres had been closed, saying facilities such as hotels or other buildings that had been commandeered from private owners were returned to them after use. These were not permanent centres for institutional quarantine. If need be, these faculties would again be commandeered for quarantine purposes, she said.