Several States that were doing lesser number of COVID-19 testing could report higher number of cases in the coming days, said Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami.

He attributed the “declining” number of COVID-19 cases in Tamil Nadu due to the highest number of testing in the country. The Chief Minister told reporters here on Thursday that early detection of positive cases and providing due treatment helped in higher cure rate and prevented infection from spreading further.

When asked where the government had failed despite the highest number of testing as Tamil Nadu remained the second most infected State in the country, Mr. Palaniswami said through highest number of testing resulted in early identification of the infected people. “But other States have not done this so far. Those States are going to see much higher number of positive cases. Tamil Nadu will not face such a situation,” he said.

The Chief Minister said it might look like Tamil Nadu was having more number of positive cases, whereas it was on the rise in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Telangana.

AP scenario

“Andhra Pradesh is seeing 10,000 positive cases for every 25,000 tests. But the number is comparatively much less in Tamil Nadu even if we do 60,000 tests,” Mr. Palaniswami said. The positivity rate was declining in phases in the State, he added.

When asked as to why the State government was hesitating to provide details of district-wise number of tests done every day, Mr. Palaniswami said those details had been given three times till date. “We get the test reports within 24 hours some days and sometimes the next day. Even in the US, it takes three days to provide the test results,” he said.

When it was pointed out that the opposition parties were complaining on this aspect, he defended the government asking what was wrong even if the list was given after two weeks. “Only the government knows the pain. It’s a life-related issue. The gGovernment has to be cautious in publishing the results. We are not bothered about what the opposition is saying. We are committed to save lives of the people,” he said

Wondering as to on what basis the opposition was making allegations, the Chief Minister said the government was working based on the data only. “There is no need to hide the data. What is the benefit of doing so,” he said.

Stating that details of some of the deaths occurred at home had been included in the COVID-19 death list as and when the information came in, he said it was the same with the case of Maharashtra and Delhi.

“The opposition parties do not have a heart to appreciate the good works of the State government. Have they ever told the truth?” he added.

Stating that it was the most challenging time, Mr. Palaniswami said that 210 countries in the world were clueless (in containing COVID-19) and were struggling. However, the recovery rate in Tamil Nadu was higher, he said.