Tamil Nadu news live: 4,32,044 people vaccinated in state, highest number so far

Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin on Thursday said police cases filed during the AIADMK rule against peaceful protesters vis-a-vis projects including the Neutrino Observatory and Koodankulam Nuclear Plant would be withdrawn.

The Tamil Nadu assembly on Thursday adopted three amendment bills, including one for amending the state's Fiscal Responsibility Act and the house was later adjourned sine die.

Tamil Nadu chief minister M.K. Stalin announced a compensation of Rs 10 lakh to the family of A. Murugesan of Salem, who was allegedly beaten to death by a Special Sub Inspector of Police, Periyasami. A statement from the Chief Minister's office said that Stalin spoke to the bereaved family of Murugesan and consoled the wife and children of the deceased. The compensation would be provided from the Chief Minister's Public Relief Fund.

Petrol price in Chennai neared the Rs 99-a-litre mark on Thursday after fuel prices were increased again on firming international oil rates. The price of petrol was hiked by 26 paise per litre and that of diesel by 27 paise a litre, according to a price notification of state-owned fuel retailers. The increase took rates across the country to fresh highs.

At 793, the district recorded the highest number of fresh Covid-19 cases in the state on Wednesday. While the case tally has touched 2,15,051 in the district, 2,05,441 of them have recovered so far. The recovery rate now stands at 95.5%. With 1,488 patients getting discharged from various hospitals and Covid care centres on the day, the active Covid-19 cases in the district have come down to 7,654. The district also logged the highest number of Covid-19 fatalities in the state with 25 patients succumbing to the virus. The toll now stands at 1,956. Except for the two people in their 40s, all the other victims were aged between 50 years and 90 years.

The Nilgiris district has witnessed a significant drop in active cases of Covid-19 by 62% in the past 10 days. The recovery rate has improved to 94% from 85% in the same period. The number of active cases reported on June 13 was 3,602 while the same stood at 1,391 on June 22. However, the district reported 20 deaths in the past 10 days. The Covid-19 toll stood at 152 as of June 22. The death rate in the second wave has been higher when compared with the first wave. In 2020, the district reported 46 Covid deaths, while it is 106 in the past six months. As many as 59 deaths were reported this month alone.

An association for women empowerment has moved the Madras high court to direct the state government to announce 2021 as ‘zero academic year’. Thamizhaga Pengal Iyakkam also wanted the court to direct the state to take rapid efforts to provide online access to government and aided schools by setting up digital arrangements in every street in rural areas and slums where economically and socially downtrodden people live.

Tamil Nadu chief minister M K Stalin on Wednesday said in the assembly that he would hold discussions with the officials concerned and take a good decision on the exclusive reservation of 10.5% for vanniyars in employment and education. Stalin was responding to PMK leader G K Mani, who alleged that the vanniyar quota was not being implemented by the state, except for the higher education department issuing an order. “We have just begun to breathe as our focus was on reducing Covid-19 day and night since we took over. I assure that a good decision will be taken after holding discussion with the officials,” the CM said.

The Tamil Nadu assembly on Wednesday witnessed the DMK and AIADMK members staking claims for containing Covid spread in the state. Opposition leader Edappadi K Palaniswami said his government took many initiatives including holding 9.4 lakh fever camps that benefitted 4.85 crore people since March last year. The AIADMK regime opened 267 laboratories for quick testing of patients during the initial stages of Covid spread when there was no vaccination and doctors lacked experience in treating Covid patients. “Everyone was scared on seeing Covid patients. The government stocked adequate drugs, PPE kits, N95 masks, and even won laurels from the Prime Minister during his video conference meeting with the chief ministers,” Palaniswami said, while insisting that his erstwhile government brought the infection under control.

Tamil Nadu minister for finance and human resources PTR Palanivel Thiagarajan on Wednesday informed the state assembly that the government has spent ?20,000 crore to ramp up medical infrastructure and procure medicines for Covid-19 pandemic. “The fund spent for the Covid-19 pandemic was one per cent of the state’s GDP (estimated at Rs 20 lakh crore). We did not expect the second wave of the pandemic to be so intense. The government is utilising its resources mainly to tackle the pandemic,” he said in response to AIADMK MLA from Kalasapakkam assembly segment Agri S S Krishnamoorthy, who questioned the DMK for not fulfilling its poll promise of reducing fuel price, during the debate on the motion of thanks to the governor’s speech.

A day after the health ministry categorised the Deltaplus variant of Sars Cov 2 as a ‘variant of concern’, a Bengaluru-based lab confirmed the first case of the variant in Chennai. The patient, a nurse from a private hospital at Adyar who tested positive in May, has recovered from the ailment, public health officials said. Until now, Tamil Nadu has sent more than 1,159 samples to the lab, Instem, for whole genome sequencing. The lab is a part of INSACOG (a consortium of 10 labs that track the presence of variants in Covid samples). Results of more than 772 samples have been returned by the lab so far.

Families with weddings scheduled in the ongoing Tamil month of Aani are concerned as the state government has not allowed retail textile showrooms to reopen for business. With Covid-19 cases continuing to decrease in Tamil Nadu, more weddings are being planned in Aani as it is considered auspicious for marriages. Some retailers, not wanting to miss the wedding rush, let in customers illegally and were penalised. In silk hub Kancheepuram, some retail textile outlets kept the main shutters closed to fool authorities but allowed customers to enter and shop through backdoors of the premises. Based on specific tip-offs, Kancheepuram municipality officials conducted a surprise inspections at silk sari shops on Wednesday.

By July 31, when the anticipated third wave of Covid-19 may hit, Tamil Nadu would have completed just 18% of its target vaccine doses. And if the state wants to vaccinate all adults at least by the end of the year, it should vaccinate at least 5.6 lakh people every day, TOI analysis shows. Public health experts say this would mean that many people will still be susceptible to the virus in the third wave. “Vaccines enlarge the umbrella of protection against the current variants and new variants. They can offer high immunity (both antibody and T-cell immunity) and are the best tool we have now to prevent subsequent waves,” Vellore-based senior virologist Dr Jacob John told TOI.

The Covid-19 recovery rate in the Union territory of Puducherry has increased to 95.9%, inching closer towards the national average of 96.6%. Of1.15 lakh cases reported in the territory so far,1.1 lakh patients have recovered. The UT reported 263 fresh Covid-19 cases even as 415 patients recovered in the 24 hours ending 10am on Wednesday, bringing down active cases to 3,058. Of them, 2,535 are under home isolation. Puducherry headquarters reported the maximum fresh cases with 218 followed by Karaikal (37), Yanam (5) and Mahe (3). Four patients died of the infection on Wednesday, taking the death toll to1,731. The infection's fatality rate stood at1.5%. Healthcare authorities have so far administered 4.39 lakh doses of vaccine against Covid-19 (including second dose).

The weekly average test positivity rate in Tamil Nadu dropped to 4.6% on Wednesday, when TN reported 6,596 new Covid-19 cases and 166 deaths. Active cases dropped to 52,884, while the cumulative toll reached 31,746 and case tally touched 24.4 lakh. Earlier this month, the Centre set three guidelines for unlocking — average seven day test positivity rate (TPR) of less than 5%, more than 70% vaccination coverage among the 45-plus age group, and “community ownership of care and Covid-19 appropriate behaviour”.