Tamil Nadu readies hospital beds, oxygen; Stalin advises people to maintain social distance 

CHENNAI:  Amid rising cases in China, Japan, US, and other countries, Chief Minister M K Stalin held a meeting with top officials to discuss the Covid-19 situation and preventive measures to be taken in Tamil Nadu at the secretariat on Thursday. 

The CM requested the people not to panic and said the government is fully prepared to protect them.
The CM advised people to maintain social distancing in closed and crowded places, visit nearest hospitals if they have any Covid symptoms and get tested and take treatment as per the instructions of doctors.

Stalin also instructed officials to take all suitable measures, a press release said. The Chief Minister also told officials to test all symptomatic international passengers as per standard operating procedure (SOP) and ensure treatment. Passengers will be tested if they have fever, cough or breathing difficulty. Beds, drugs, testing and medical oxygen facilities are adequately available in all government hospitals, and facilities can be ramped up as per need, the release said. Health secretary P Senthil Kumar briefed the CM about the Covid-19 situation and preparedness of the government machinery.

‘Conduct whole genome sequencing in Tamil Nadu’

The government has also told officials to conduct whole-genome sequencing of Covid-19 samples to detect new variants. The state health department officials have been instructed to continue monitoring of all influenza- like illness and SARI cases, the release said. Most of the Omicron variants now found in Tamil Nadu are XBB variants. BA-5 variants were detected in the state in June, July and August. BF.7 (which is now the reason for the surge in cases in China and other countries) is the sub-lineage of BA- 5.

Chief secretary V Irai Anbu, DGP C Sylendra Babu, home secretary K Phanindra Reddy, health secretary Dr P Senthil Kumar, National Health Mission- Tamil Nadu director Shilpa Prabhakar, Tamil Nadu Medical Services Corporation MD Deepak Jacob and director of public health Dr T S Selvavinayagam were present.