India News | TN Clocks 33,059 New COVID-19 Infections; 364 Fatalities Push Toll to 18,369

Chennai, May 16 (PTI): Tamil Nadu clocked 33,059 new COVID-19 cases, including 12 returnees from various destinations, pushing the caseload to 16,64,350 while a record 364 deaths took the toll to 18,369, the Health department said on Tuesday.

According to a medical bulletin, 21,362 people were discharged on Tuesday, taking the tally to 14,03,052, leaving 2,42,929 active cases.

Chennai accounted for 6,016 new infections, totalling to 4,50,267 till date.

The metropolis also leads in the number of fatalities with 5,939 deaths.

The number of samples tested in the last 24 hours was at 1,60,463, pushing the cumulative number of specimens examined so far to 2,54,33,956.

Besides Chennai, Chengalpet added 2,299 cases while Coimbatore clocked 3,071 new infections followed by Tiruvallur (1,890), Erode (1,568), Tiruppur (1,561), Tuticorin (1,352), Tiruchirappalli (1,271) and Madurai (1,011) while the remaining districts clocked new infections in triple digits.

Among the 364 deceased, 91 were without any pre- existing illnesses including a 27-year old man from Madurai who succumbed to the virus due to COVID-19 pneumonia, the bulletin said.

Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu government has warned of taking legal action against hospitals collecting excessive fee from patients, selling medicines at higher prices and receiving bribes from beneficiaries to avail government services.

In a statement, Chief Secretary V Iraianbu said the government has implemented a lockdown to ensure that the COVID-19 virus does not spread from one to another individual and to safeguard those individuals who were affected by the virus.

"It has come to the notice that some private hospitals, government officers and those representing some business entities were indulging in activities against law and the Chief Minister (M K Stalin) has ordered to take strict action against them", the Chief Secretary said in an official release.

It has hereby warned that legal action would be taken against hospitals collecting high fees, retailing medicines higher than the prescribed rates and officials receiving bribes from beneficiaries who want to avail government services, he said.

"The government officers involved in such activities would be dismissed and face departmental action," he said.

"It is also advised that monitoring may be further intensified were possibilities of such malpractices may occur", he added.PTI VIJ SS

(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)