Covid situation under control in Tamil Nadu: Ma Subramanian

CHENNAI: Several states have made masks mandatory in closed public spaces amid a rise in Covid-19 cases, but Tamil Nadu has not seen large clusters, hospitalisations, or deaths to warrant such an order, health minister Ma Subramanian said on Monday when a 63-year-old woman died in Chengalpet and the state added 386 new cases. The active cases tally rose to 2,099.
On Sunday, Kerala reported 1,758 new cases, Maharashtra 542 and Delhi 535 against 320 in TN. During this time, India reported 5,367 new cases, he said while inspecting a mock drill to check preparedness for a 'fourth wave'. Most active cases in TN are in home isolation under medical supervision, he said. "There is no surge in hospitalisations, the requirement for oxygen or intensive care as in the second wave when the delta and delta plus variants dominated. In the third wave, when Omicron variant took over, hospital admissions came down. We are expecting the same for the fourth wave when a sub-lineage of Omicron called XBB and its lineages are taking over," he said. If fresh cases increase rapidly, the government will review its decision to make masks mandatory, Subramanian said. The three Covid deaths reported were of people with comorbidities. The 63-year-old who died on Monday was admitted to a private hospital on April 4 and tested positive for Covid four days later. Doctors said she had heart disease, a comorbid condition. She died of sepsis, multi-organ failure and Covid pneumonia.
Earlier, during the mock drill, the state took stock of the bed strength, ventilators, oxygen facilities, drugs, masks, PPE, and the number of trained human resources, he said.
Tests are now being done for patients with symptoms such as fever, cough, cold and body aches. He said testing willbe increased to around 11,000 from around 4,000 cases. On Monday, the daily test positivity rate was 8%.