Tamil Nadu Covid lockdown news live: State records 35,579 new cases, 397 deaths

Tamil Nadu orders 5,000 vials of Amphotericin

At Chennai-based Sankara Nethralaya, which had 13 cases in the last 10 days, the youngest was 17 years old. Patients with the fungal infection complain of stuffy nose – bloody or black discharge, pain or numbness in face, discoloration, bulgy, red eyes and double vision. “We can save patients and their vision if they come in early. Now, many people report with serious complications such as complete loss of vision. We have seven so far,” said Dr Sonam Nisar, associate consultant at the department of orbit and oculoplasty.

Until Tuesday, the state did not have a complete count on the total number of cases due to mucormycosis. While health secretary J Radhakrishnan said there were nine cases, Government Rajaji Hospital, Madurai said it saw 20 cases including five with eye-related complications and nine with ENT complications in the last 45 days. None of them died or lost vision.

A registry will now record cases and deaths of the fungal infection, like it is done for Covid-19, H1N1, SARS, dengue, malaria and cholera, said director of public health Dr T S Selvavinayagam. The state also set up a 10-member expert committee chaired by the directorate of medical education, with DPH, senior ophthalmologists, ENT surgeons, diabetologists, pathologists and general medicine experts to roll out standard protocols.

Notifying every case of mucormycosis (black fungus) among Covid-19 patients including screening, testing and treating it will now be a standardized procedure in hospitals across the state. It will also help ensure availability of antifungal medication required.

The number of new cases in the state, which was less than 30,000 until April 11, crossed 35,000 on Monday. “But over the last three or four days, the daily increase has slowed down,” said health secretary J Radhakrishnan. The doubling time for the viral infection is hovering around 33 days for nearly nine days now, he said. The viral reproduction rate – R naught – has also dropped from1.5 on April 8 to 1.1 on Wednesday. “It is too early to celebrate but we are seeing good signs,” he said.

Chennai cases dip Fresh cases in Chennai came down to 6,073 on Thursday, from 6,297 it reported on Wednesday. There were 73 deaths. After Chennai, the highest number of new cases were from emerging hotspot Coimbatore, which reported 3,335 new cases. While Chengalpet reported 2092 cases, neighbouring Tiruvallur logged 1,791 fresh cases. At least six districts Tiruppur (1581), Erode (1505), Trichy (1375), Madurai (1269), Kanyakumari (1096) and Tuticorin (1004) crossed the fourdigit mark. The lowest number of cases were reported from Perambalur (196), Sivaganga (237) and Ariyalur (267). After Chennai, the highest number of deaths were reported from Chengalpet (44), Vellore (36), Kancheepuram (27), Coimbatore (20) and Tiruvallur.

For the third consecutive day, Tamil Nadu reported the country's highest number of fresh cases, when new cases breached the 17 lakh mark. The 35,579 new cases and 397 deaths pushed the case tally to 17.3 lakh when the cumulative death toll reached 19,131. After 25,368 discharges, the state was left with 2.63 active cases.