Stalin tells collectors of Coimbatore, five other districts to take every effort to contain Covid spread

CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu chief minister M K Stalin on Thursday asked the collectors of six districts, where the impact of Covid-19 was not adequately contained, to take every effort in the next couple of weeks to curb the spread.
The chief minister held a virtual meeting with the collectors of Coimbatore, Tirupur, Madurai, Trichy, Salem and Erode. Chief secretary V Irai Anbu and other senior bureaucrats also attended the video-conference.
“Keep in mind the success of the activities we undertake in these six districts is essential to contain the impact of the second wave of Covid in the state,” the chief minister told the collectors, directing them to take up all efforts in full-swing.
The state government intensified the total lockdown with no relaxations from a week beginning May 24. Stalin said the Covid impact had been contained to an extent in the state, including Chennai and its neighbouring districts, due to the war-footing measures taken by the government and the total lockdown imposed by the state in the last couple of weeks. Still, the impact had not been adequately contained in the six districts. The meeting was to take efforts immediately to contain the spread and fatality rate.
“The six districts have excellent health infrastructure in public and private sectors. The collectors should avail the infrastructure fully and ensure the availability of bed facilities to all the needy,” the CM said.
Even as increasing the number of RT-PCR tests in the districts, the highly infected areas should be monitored and adequate tests must be taken to isolate infected people, he said.
“Lot of vaccination took place in Coimbatore and Salem districts. The other four districts should see that large doses are available to vaccinate everyone in the age group of 18 and 44 immediately,” Stalin said.
Considering that the infection was high in the rural areas, the districts should prevent the spread from one area to another, he added.
The meeting comes a day after Stalin stated that he was not completely satisfied with the Covid situation and that the government would take a call on extending intense lockdown after discussion.