With fresh COVID-19 cases falling — Chennai recorded just nine fresh infections on Sunday — the Tamil Nadu government has withdrawn its notification issued under the Tamil Nadu Public Health Act, 1939, to ensure that all notified offices were occupied by persons vaccinated against COVID-19.
The Directorate of Public Health and Preventive Medicine withdrew the November 18, 2021 notification.
“In continuation to the recent reduction in COVID-19 cases in the State and the lifting of all restrictions which were laid down to prevent COVID-19 by the Government of India and also the State achieving a coverage of more than 92% and 75% of the first and second doses of COVID-19 vaccination [among those] above 18 years, it is decided to withdraw the notification issued under Tamil Nadu Public Health Act, 1939, with immediate effect,” said a circular issued by T.S. Selvavinayagam, Director of Public Health and Preventive Medicine.
However, health officials in all the districts have been instructed to continue insisting on COVID-19 protocols such as maintaining social distance and wearing masks and avoiding crowding at public places. They have also been instructed to continue emphasising the need for vaccination and urging people to volunteer for it.
For the first time since the Health Department started releasing the number of fresh infections, the daily caseload in Chennai dropped to single digit. Twelve more persons were declared to have been recovered. Active cases in the district stood at 127.
So far, of the 7,51,123 persons who were infected, 7,41,928 persons have recovered and 9,068 persons have died during treatment.
Across the State, 23 more persons tested positive, taking the total number of persons infected to 34,52,910. Fresh cases were reported in 10 districts. Chengalpattu, Kanniyakumari, Tiruvarur, and Thoothukudi each reported two fresh cases. One case each was reported in Thiruvallur, Thanjavur, Salem, the Nilgiris, Namakkal and Coimbatore. At present 275 persons are under treatment.
The discharge of 32 persons pushed the tally of those who have recovered from the infection to 34,14,610. No deaths were reported in the past 24 hours, according to the daily bulletin issued by the Directorate of Public Health.
