Tamil Nadu Covid lockdown news live: Clusters from industries, home isolations hit western districts

In an official release, Swiggy announced its commitment towards vaccinating all its delivery partners by covering 100% of vaccination costs not only in Chennai but in all 500 Indian cities where it is present.

The Tamil Nadu government will soon invoke the POCSO Act (The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) against those who misbehave during online classes. The state education department will also frame guidelines to regulate online classes in schools to prevent sexual harassment of students. This was announced by Chief minister M.K. Stalin in a press statement on Wednesday night.

Chief minister M K Stalin on Wednesday flagged off trucks carrying1,400 oxygen cylinders, imported by Sipcot, to districts across Tamil Nadu. The cylinders that reached Vishakapatnam by sea were brought to Chennai by road and will deliver the cylinders to 18 districts, with each district getting 50-100 cylinders as per need, the state government said in a release. Sipcot has so far placed orders to the tune of Rs 40.71 crore for procuring 1,915 oxygen cylinders, 2,380 oxygen regulators, 3,250 medical oxygen flow meters and 800 oxygen-filled cylinders. Of this, it has so far received 515 oxygen cylinders, 1,780 oxygen regulators and 250 oxygen flow meters. Sipcot has also sourced 2,000 empty oxygen cylinders and distributed them for oxygen refill and supply to hospitals in various districts across the state.

The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Tamil Nadu chapter has mapped more than 10 lakh employees and workers of the CII member companies in the state to prepare them for vaccination. The employees and workers belong to1,397 member companies of CII in the state and they include temporary and outsourced staff. The mapping of employees is part of CII Tamil Nadu’s plans to ensure 100% vaccination for all, as part of its support to the state government’s initiatives to contain the spread of Covid. CII’s vaccination programme began on Wednesday at Daimler India’s commercial vehicle plant at Oragadam with chief minister MK Stalin visiting the facility and appreciating the vaccination drive.

While Tamil Nadu’s Covid-19 curve has shown signs of decline, Coimbatore continues its upward trend so much so that the western district reported more cases than Chennai on Wednesday. Coimbatore added 4,268 more cases to its Covid logbook and the active cases breached the 35,000-mark on Wednesday. Coimbatore’s curve has reached a ‘higher plateau’, say health officials. One of the reasons for the continuing spike in Coimbatore is the presence of a large number of small industries. Most of these units were functioning till 10 days back when they decided to shut operations voluntarily. By the time, they had turned into micro clusters.

Bringing much relief to relatives of Covid-19 patients admitted to private hospitals, a couple who own a hotel at Pattukottai in Thanjavur are offering lunch packets worth Rs 80 for Rs 5 besides free breakfast to 300 people daily. C Gnanasekar, 61, and his wife G Vadivalagi, 51, who own TMR Food, say there are over 25 hospitals in and around their hotel. While people coming to the hospitals were their customers, the Covid-19 lockdown has added to the woes of people taking their Covid-19 positive relatives for treatment as they struggle to find food. Even though there are hotels in the locality, those coming to the hospital for treatment of their relatives need to stay in the hospital for at least two weeks.

The reduced traffic on roads due to tightening of lockdown restrictions has improved Chennai’s air quality compared to the pre-Covid days in 2019, but it was not as good as the air quality measured in May 2020 when there was a stringent nationwide lockdown. Two of the three Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) stations at Alandur and Velachery recorded 47 and 73 air quality index (AQI) on Wednesday. On May 26, 2019, the AQI was better at Alandur (39) and in Velachery (78). On May 26, 2020, both the stations recorded even better AQI with Alandur at 30 and Velachery at 51.

Core policing workslike night patrol, vehicle checks and spot inquiries by the city police have been severely hampered as nearly 40% of cops are either down with covid-19 infection or in home isolation tending to the dear ones. Maintaining visible policing with just 60% cops on duty has got tough, too. The city police commissioner has, therefore, drawn men from special police force and battalion for regular duty, but they are unfamiliar with the rigours of station and traffic duty. At present, at least 550 cops are directly infected by covid-19, and others have to remain in isolation due to infections in the family.

The percentage of active Covid-19 cases (14.9%) compared to total infections reported in the Union territory of Puducherry continues to be higher than the national average (9.2%). Of the total 99,540 patients infected so far in the territory, 83,263 have recovered as of Wednesday, leaving 14,842 patients under treatment. As many as 1,435 patients have died of the infection so far in Puducherry. Across the country, 2.71 crore have been infected and 2.43 crore patients recovered, leaving 24.95 lakh patients under treatment. National death toll is 3.11 lakh.

Fresh cases are rising in the western belt while they are going down in the rest of the state. On Wednesday, Coimbatore (4,268) reported more cases than Chennai (3,361) for the first time ever. Tamil Nadu reported 33,764 new cases on Wednesday and the highest number of fatalities since the beginning of the pandemic — 475 deaths. After 29,717 people were discharged from the registry, the state had 3.1 lakh active cases. The case tally crossed 19.4 lakh and death toll neared 21,815 on Wednesday.

As Covid-19 cases drop in Chennai, bed and drug availability has improved compared to two weeks ago. Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC), however, says the situation is only better, but not yet comfortable. Dr P Ganeshkumar, epidemiologist, National institute of Epidemiology, said, “The percentage change in incidence and the test positivity rate is going in the negative now. This shows that there may be a limited spread of infection. We have also seen that the age-specific death rate is also reducing. Since May 10, the state government has added more than 3,500 oxygen-supported and Intensive Care Unit (ICU) beds in Chennai. As of Tuesday evening, around 10% of the total 9,851 such beds in the city were vacant. The vacancy was 3% in the first week of May.