Two persons die of COVID-19 in Virudhunagar

They are the first deaths related to the viral infection in the district this year

Two persons have lost their lives to COVID-19 infection in Virudhunagar district since Wednesday.

The death of a 42-year-old man from Ayyanar Nagar in the town on Wednesday was the first COVID-19-related fatality in Virudhunagar district in 2021. Deputy Director (Health Services) A. Palanisamy said that the man had fever for four days and was admitted to Virudhunagar Government Hospital. After he tested positive and developed breathlessness, he was shifted to Government Rajaji Hospital (GRH) in Madurai, where he died on Wednesday.

The second death was that of a Communist Party of India (Marxist) functionary, R. Chandramohan, who too succumbed to the viral infection at the GRH on Thursday morning, according to a statement from the party’s Virudhunagar district unit.

A senior official said the number of new cases that remained in single digit till a month back had now increased to double digit. “When the election campaign was in peak, people had gathered in large numbers everywhere without wearing mask or maintaining social distance despite repeated warnings by the Health Department,” the official added.

Besides, a huge gathering was reported in a temple festival that went on for three days since Tuesday.

The Collector said after 24 fresh cases were reported on Wednesday, the number of samples collected, which remained at 1,000 a day, was increased to 1,500 on Thursday, when 13 new positive cases were recorded.

As of now, COVID-19 patients were treated only at Virudhunagar GH. However, the health officials had been instructed to keep ready other government hospitals too. “We will also revive COVID care centres in the district, if needed,” the Collector said.

Contact tracing and testing would be taken up intensively, Dr. Palanisamy said. He added that containment zones would be introduced in the district if there were three or four new cases in a street.