Fever camps, extensive testing, Sunday lockdown and a number of new schemes have helped Tamil Nadu battle the coronavirus situation in the State.
This list is not exhaustive, there are multiple schemes being evolved to cater to the emergency situations that arise from time to time.
- Free rations (rice and other commodities from April to July/additional rice only until November) to card holders, migrant workers, those outside PDS network & NGOs
- Provision of free meals through Amma Canteens
- Quarantine Allowance or cash support ₹1,000 - ration cardholders and members of welfare boards such as construction workers & barbers
- Directive to private schools on payment of fees during 2020-21
- Deferment of rent payment by tenants to property owners
- Time for payment of electricity bills extended till July 31
- Deferment of payment of property and water taxes (ordered in March for three months )
- Solatium for COVID-19 deaths in the case of government employees and involved in government work fighting COVID-19, was ₹50 lakh. Was reduced to ₹25 lakh earlier this month.
- Supply of essential commodities for slum residents in more than 1900 neighborhoods in Chennai
- Distribution of cash assistance for street vendors in Chennai
- Distribution of free masks (ongoing scheme)
- Distribution of electronic devices such as mobile phones for poor students of Chennai Corporation schools
Healthcare facilities
Total number of testing facilities - 122
*Government - 59
*Private - 63
Total number of COVID-19 hospitals in Chennai- 47
*Government hospitals - 14
*Private hospitals - 33
Total number of COVID-19 beds in government hospitals in Chennai : 6,120
Total number of COVID-19 beds in private hospitals in Chennai : 3,410
Total number of COVID-19 beds in 25 government medical college hospitals in Tamil Nadu - 28,466
Total number of ventilators in the government sector in the State - 3,775
*Number of ventilators for COVID-19 - 1,775
Coverage of COVID-19 treatment under CM’s Comprehensive Health Insurance Scheme
(Inputs from T. Ramakrishnan, Serena Josephine M., Dennis S. Jesudasan and Aloysius Xavier Lopez)