India News | Expeditious Detection, Treatment Measures Have Kept COVID-19 Fatality Rate Low, Recovery Rate High, Says TN CM

Chennai, Jul 29 (PTI) The expeditious measures taken by the Tamil Nadu government to contain the spread of coronavirus has helped reduce the COVID-19 fatality rate to 1.6 per cent in the state and enhance the recovery rate to 73 per cent, Chief Minister K Palaniswami said here on Wednesday.

Tamil Nadu continues to maintain this unique distinction in the country in its battle against the virus, he said.

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He attributed it to aggressive detection and treating positive cases, while constantly upscaling facilities for the effective handling of the pandemic. Apart from conducting fever clinics for early detection and treatment of the cases both in Chennai and rest of Tamil Nadu, the government established 1,196 mobile camps throughout the state including 70 in Chennai to detect the virus cases. "Overcoming the challenges posed by the coronavirus, my government strived to improve the health of the people besides the fiscal health of the state. The government ensured uninterrupted availability of essential commodities during the four months of lockdown," Palaniswami said in his address at a conference of district collectors.

Reeling out statistics, he said till Tuesday, a total of 24,75,866 persons were screened for the pathogen and 2,27,688 of them tested positive.

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So far, 1,66,956 have been treated and discharged, while 57,073 are undergoing treatment.

In Chennai, 96,438 tested positive for COVID-19 and 81,530 have been treated and discharged while 12,852 persons are undergoing treatment, he said.

"Chennai has a high recovery rate of 84.5 per cent while the rate of recovery for Tamil Nadu stood at 73 per cent. Chennai with 2,056 deaths has a fatality rate of 2.1 per cent. Tamil Nadu with 3,659 deaths has a death rate of 1.6 per cent," Palaniswami said.

Palaniswami said house-to-house checking was being carried out to conduct RT-PCR tests.

Over 24.7 lakh persons had been tested so far and over 63,000 persons were being tested in a day, he said.

A total of 54,091 beds in COVID-19 hospitals, 64,903 beds in COVID-19 special hospitals and 25,538 beds with oxygen supply, 3,962 beds in ICUs and 2,882 ventilators were available in the state, he said.

Aiming to give a fillip to the industries in the state, he said he has directed district collectors to permit all the migrant workers keen on returning to Tamil Nadu, to work in the state. "I have directed the district collectors to permit them to resume work after screening them (for virus)," he said.

On the agriculture front, prompt response like the Kudimaramathu (restoration of waterbodies) scheme and opening of dam water for agriculture activities have helped Cauvery delta districts raise Kuruvai (short-term) crop on 3.54 lakh acres, exceeding the target of 3.50 lakh acres.

With the monsoon setting in, the conditions are favourable to raise the paddy crop on another 15,000 acres land, he added.

Further, over four lakh guest workers were sent to their native states from Tamil Nadu during the lockdown and 51,211 non-resident Tamils have returned to the state under the Vande Bharat and Samudra Setu missions.

The government will commence the distribution of free face masks through the ration shops from August 5, he said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)