Only two districts — Krishnagiri and Cuddalore — in the State have positivity rates at 11%, and steps are being taken to bring COVID-19 cases under control, said Health Minister C. Vijayabaskar.
“Disease transmission is under control in the State. As per the guidelines of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), we are maintaining a positivity rate of less than 10% across the State. The positivity rate is higher than 10% in Krishnagiri and Cuddalore. It is 11%-11.7%. We are making efforts to bring it under control in two days,” he told reporters during an inspection at the Government Stanley Medical College Hospital on Thursday.
Focused efforts are being made in districts such as Cuddalore, Nagapattinam and Tiruvannamalai, where cases have been rising, he said, adding, “The strategy includes aggressive testing, holding of fever camps and picking up influenza-like illness cases from the field level.”
However, with complete relaxation in restrictions, he urged people to wear masks, adhere to physical distancing norms and wash hands without fail.
“Relaxation of restrictions was brought in for the livelihood of the people and the economy. People should definitely wear masks,” he said.
With over four lakh persons treated for COVID-19 in the State, he said 80% of them were treated in government hospitals. “Private hospitals are maintaining a minimum number of beds. Very few patients approach private hospitals, but we are stressing on the need for private hospitals to increase the number of beds,” he said.
Beds increased
So far, 25,000 COVID-19 patients have been treated at the Government Stanley Medical College Hospital. The hospital has a recovery rate of 94%, while the State’s recovery rate stands at 88%, he said.
Another 400 beds have been added at the hospital for COVID-19 treatment, taking its total bed strength for infected patients to 1,200. The hospital currently has less than 1,000 patients, he added.
“All 400 beds have oxygen support. The hospital has an 80-bed intensive care unit. It also has a post-COVID-19 follow-up facility where all required equipment, including ECG, X-ray and CT scan are available,” he said.
He said the government was increasing bed strength across the State as per the situation.
“Initially, we had 75,000 beds in the State. Today, we have 1,42,000 beds for COVID-19 patients,” the Minister added.
Dr. Vijayabaskar, while noting that the State had nearly 3,000 ventilators, said more than the ventilators, it was high-flow nasal cannulas that were being utilised to provide oxygen support to the patients.
The State had procured sufficient high-flow nasal cannulas and had distributed them to government hospitals, while the capacity of oxygen tanks and the number of oxygen beds was being increased, he said.
Nearly one lakh persons have utilised e-sanjeevini, the telemedicine facility in the State, he noted.
On wearing masks
J. Radhakrishnan, Health Secretary, said, “Masks are one of the most important preventive measures in our hands. People tend to remove masks in parks and places where the public converge. We have now authorised health inspectors, sanitary inspectors, sub-inspectors of police and revenue inspectors to issue receipts and collect fines. Our intention is not to impose fines, but we will do so if people continue to violate norms,” he said.
People continued to ignore symptoms and sought medical help two to three days later, resulting in 40%-50% lung involvement. “People should come in early. They should come to the hospital if they have fever, even if their RT-PCR test results return negative for COVID-19,” he said. People should take precautions, as cases are rising in other States, he added.
“We reached an important milestone on Wednesday, as we moved to less than 50,000 active cases,” Dr. Radhakrishnan said.
He added, “There are less than 10 deaths a day directly due to COVID-19. The remaining are incidental, as persons with co-morbidities get infected. The State’s mortality rate has come down to 1.68% and we are taking steps to reduce it to 1%,” he said.
On the occassion, the Minister laid the foundation stone for a foot overbridge, connecting the hospital and the college.