Coimbatore: Health minister C Vijayabaskar on Saturday said the AIADMK government has succeeded in controlling the spread of Covid-19 in the state and termed it a remarkable achievement.
Speaking at the inaugural function of the 13th edition of Kovai Vizha at the ESI Hospital in the city, he said, “At a time when London and other European countries are in lockdown, we are relaxing. The state government has achieved what the well-developed nations are struggling to achieve.”
The curtains went up for the nine-day carnival with a helicopter showering flower petals on health workers on the hospital premises. Themed around hope and gratitude, the Vizha would feature more than 100 events, most of which would be conducted virtually because of the pandemic situation.
Pointing out that working people needed appreciation to continue working tirelessly, the minister said the district administration, state government and others who had worked untiringly during the pandemic also deserved appreciation. “I salute the fraternity.”
Municipal administration minister S P Velumani also thanked the health workers and other officials, who have made the city safe today. “They worked as a team during the pandemic to control the spread.”
A Nirmala, ESI Hospital dean, expressed gratitude to the government for providing an opportunity to serve people during the pandemic and the Vizha team for honouring health workers. She said, “The government had set up a real time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) lab at the hospital for Covid-19 testing and its capacity was increased later. We have tested about 1.71 lakh samples at the lab. Similarly, the government had provided us an additional CT scan machine when the patient flow increased. It helped us identify lung infection in 6,418 of the 9,109 patients that we treated.”
Aishwarya Arjun, former chair of Young Indians (YI), which organizes the Vizha with other organizations, said true to its theme hope and gratitude, the event got underway with expressing gratitude to the frontline workers, who had been working relentlessly during the pandemic. “Their dedication, commitment and courage deserve our deepest gratitude and admiration.”
The Vizha would feature events like marathon, cyclathon, heritage tour, virtual art streets, drop a device, ‘Memories of Coimbatore’, ‘Agriculture and Beyond’ (agriculture related webinars) and ‘Mind Your Mind’ (mental health awareness programme).