Tamil Nadu registers eighth COVID-19 death

State’s tally of cases surges to 690 with 69 additions.

April 07, 2020 11:41 pm | Updated December 03, 2021 06:33 am IST - Chennai

A 45-year-old man, who tested positive for COVID-19 and was admitted to Christian Medical College hospital, Vellore, died on Tuesday. With this, Tamil Nadu has reported eight coronavirus deaths .

The Vellore Collector made the announcement on Tuesday night, and while health authorities confirmed the death, an official bulletin was not issued until 11.30 p.m.

Earlier in the day, Tamil Nadu reported another death due to COVID-19. A 64-year-old woman, who had no travel history but came from one of the “high-risk areas”, died at Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital even as the State’s tally of cases surged to 690 with 69 additions.

“The patient from Chennai was in the hospital for 1.5 hours. The woman had co-morbid conditions of diabetes and hypertension. She did not have a travel history but had a contact history. She was from one of the high-risk areas and we are in the process of identifying her contact,” Health Secretary Beela Rajesh told reporters.

With this, a total of eight persons, who had tested positive for COVID-19, have died in the State.

 

“We are doing a continuous audit of every death. We have a 10-member expert committee comprising doctors from the government and private sectors. We held a meeting today and they have revised the guidelines. We have increased the protocols for treatment and monitoring. We are analysing these deaths to prevent further deaths,” Dr. Rajesh said.

As on date, 19 persons had been discharged from hospitals after treatment, she added.

Of the 69 new cases, 63 were linked to the “single source event” (the Delhi conference). This included those who attended the event and their contacts. Of the remaining six persons, the source of infection had been identified for three of a family from Thoothukudi. One person had inter-State travel history, another had contact with an international traveller and for one more person, tracking was under way, she added.

Six persons - four women and two males - from Thoothukudi, five persons - two men and three women - from Madurai, three persons - two men and a woman - from Thanjavur, 13 men from Tiruppur, one person from Coimbatore, 39 persons - 22 women and 17 men - from Chennai and two persons from Ranipet have tested positive.

A total of 1,630 samples from persons who attended the “single source event” and their contacts were sent for testing. Of this, 636 had tested positive, 961 negative and 33 were under process, she said, adding that more persons were coming in.

 

Overall, a total of 5,305 samples were tested till date in the State, of which 201 were under process. A total of 1,864 persons were admitted to isolation wards in hospitals across the State.

City sees surge

Chennai witnessed another surge in the number of cases. With 39 more persons testing positive on Tuesday, the city’s tally of positive cases increased to 149. Coimbatore was second with 60 cases, followed by Dindigul with 45. Tirunelveli had 38 cases and Erode had 32.

Containment activities were expanded to 34 districts, covering 15 lakh households and a population of 53 lakh persons. A total of 30,369 field workers were involved.

Testing facilities

In addition to the 17 existing testing facilities, T.N. got two more laboratories - IRT, Perundurai and a private laboratory, the Health Secretary said.

The State has the most number of testing centres and testing kits, Dr. Rajesh said. As of now, the State had adequate testing kits, she said, adding: “This is an ongoing process. We have placed orders. We had already received 10,000 kits, and had 4,000 kits in hand. As of now, all the kits are from National Institute of Virology, Pune,” she said.

On the rapid test kits, she said a detailed video-conference was held with microbiologists and lab technicians in districts. “We are working out a micro plan. We have also involved Anna University and are doing GIS mapping up to the level of house, street and number of buildings,” she said.

She said that protocols for burial/cremation of persons who die due to COVID-19 had already been issued.

As on date, a total of 66,430 persons were under home quarantine in the State, and another 253 in government quarantine facilities. A total of 27,416 persons had completed the 28-day home quarantine.

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