Covid-19 cases dip below 1,000-mark

Coimbatore: The daily spike in Covid-19 cases has come down below the 1,000-mark in the district for the first time since April 29 on Sunday, when 904 people were tested positive for the virus, taking the tally to 2,12,493.
The day also saw 1,277 patients getting discharged from various hospitals and Covid care centres, bringing the active cases down to 10,802. The number of recovered patients in the district now stands at 1,99,803.
The Covid-19 toll soared to 1,888, with the state listing 17 more fatalities that occurred in the district in the media bulletin. Two of the deceased were aged below 40 years – a 31-year-old woman without any comorbidities who died in the Coimbatore Medical College Hospital on Friday, a day after admission, and a 36-year-old woman with type 2 diabetes mellitus who was admitted to CMCH on Monday and died of pneumonia on Friday.
A senior health department official said the test positivity rate in the district had dipped below 10%. “Presently, the number of patients diagnosed with the infection is lesser than the number of patients discharged from the hospitals and Covid care centres. This is a positive sign. Because of this, more than 70% beds is vacant in Covid care centres. CMCH too has more than 50% beds vacant.”
He said they had decided to keep the Covid care centres open without cutting down on the number of beds, despite several requests from private hospitals, which have been seeing poor occupancy, to shut them down.
“When the government relaxes the lockdown norms, we are likely to face more challenges. Hence, we have decided to follow a focused strategy in testing and vaccinating the people. We are planning to test industrial workers and other vulnerable groups at regular intervals, apart from inoculating them on a priority basis,” the officer said.
The health department, which organized a special vaccination camp for the disabled people and their parents/guardians in Valparai on the outskirts of the city on the day, is planning to conduct a similar camp for teachers on Monday.
The neighbouring Tirupur district, meanwhile, recorded 477 fresh cases of Covid-19 on the day, pushing the tally up to 78,724, of which 4,461 are active cases.
The district has seen 73,567 people recovering from the virus attack so far. The Covid-19 toll rose to 696, with eight patients succumbing to the virus in Tirupur.