Coimbatore: The district recorded 51 new cases of Covid-19 on Friday, the highest since February 7, even as 52 patients were discharged. The number of active Covid-19 cases in the district now stands at 376.
While the district had so far seen 55,982 Covid-19 cases, 54,923 have recovered and 683 have succumbed to the virus.
Health department officials said there has been a spike in new cases since Friday, but the situation wasn’t alarming. The district had 52 fresh cases of Covid-19 on Friday and 48 on Thursday.
Dr G Ramesh Kumar, deputy director of public health, said, “We have seen two clusters recently – Saravanampatti, where four people were tested positive for the virus after attending a condolence meeting in Erode four days ago, and Thudiyalur with three cases.”
He said the city corporation had been testing all their contacts and screening their neighbours to check for transmission. “If they test positive, numbers may be slightly higher in the next couple of days.”
Officials said one person had succumbed to the virus at Thudiyalur, where the source of infection is yet to be traced. They said the public should continue to take precautionary measures to keep the virus at bay.
“People should continue to wear face masks, practice hand hygiene and sanitize surfaces in public places often. People in the vulnerable age groups should get vaccinated as soon as possible and follow the Covid-19 norms after that,” Dr Ramesh Kumar said.
On Friday, 3,624 people were vaccinated against the virus in the district. While 1,732 people took the jab from the government centres, 1,732 had it from private hospitals.
Meanwhile, the district administration issued a notice asking all government employees and officers, including teachers, central government employees, bank employees, public sector undertaking staff and the 4,000-odd police staff in the district, to get vaccinated in the next 28 days from any of the 25 government centres. The move has to be seen against the backdrop of election duties that await them.
While health secretary J Radhakrishnan had announced the plans to allow private hospitals to administer Covaxin, a government order to this effect is yet to be issued, according to health officers in the district. “We are yet to receive an official order in this regard. So, we have not planned anything yet.”