Tamil Nadu: Case load soars in western districts

COIMBATORE: The western districts recorded 279 fresh Covid-19 cases on Sunday, taking the total number of cases in the region to 4,665.
While Coimbatore logged the most number of cases among the eight western districts with 117 new cases, Salem came second with 98 cases. Two deaths were also notified in the region on Sunday, one each from Coimbatore and Erode districts. The one from Erode was that of a 33-year-old man, who died on July 8. Suffering from diabetes, asthma, hypertension and obesity, he was admitted to Perundurai Government Medical College and Hospital on July 6. The patient died of respiratory failure, viral pneumonia and other comorbidities, according to the bulletin. So far, the region has recorded 32 Covid deaths, with Coimbatore toping the chart with nine, followed by Salem with seven.
According to health officials, out of the 4,665 cases, 2,647 are undergoing treatment in various government and private hospitals. Even among the active cases, Coimbatore and Salem continue to have the highest numbers. While Salem’s total case load was way above Coimbatore, the number of active cases is more or less the same. While Coimbatore has 930 active cases, Salem has 988 cases. Erode, which reported 20 new cases, comes a distant third with 207 active cases and 389 total cases, followed by Dharmapuri and Tirupur, which reported 17 and three new cases, respectively. Dharmapuri has 146 active cases and Tirupur 118. In terms of total cases, however, Tirupur is ahead with 297 cases.
The growing case load has started putting health officials on their toes. The health machinery that was till now focussing largely on prevention and containment measures, has a reason to worry on the infrastructure front too.
They say they are aware of the challenges and ramping up beds in hospitals and Covid care centres. tnn