On Sunday, as Chennai and its neighbouring districts of Kancheepuram, Thiruvallur and Chengalpattu went into total lockdown for the third consecutive day, the number of coronavirus positive cases in Tamil Nadu touched a new high of 59,377. On Sunday, as many as 2,532 people tested positive, of which 1,493 cases are in Chennai. With this, the total number of people infected with COVID-19 in Chennai went up to 41,172. Fifty-three deaths were reported in Tamil Nadu on Sunday, taking the total death toll to 757.
While Sunday was a day of complete lockdown in Chennai and people stayed indoors, authorities in the state say that the infection is being spread to other districts because of people leaving the capital city to reach their home town, as most of the districts are either orange or green zones. The district authorities and local bodies have put out public notices asking the locals to inform if there are people coming in from Chennai.
The state has tested only 31,401 samples on Sunday compared to 32,186 on Saturday. While the infection rate is increasing, the number of infections among the elderly, children and those with co-morbid conditions is also on the rise. As per the media bulletin released by the state health department, a total of 2,934 children under the age group of 12 are infected.
Of the 53 people who died on Sunday, 15 were in private hospitals and 38 happened in government hospitals. According to the health department, 50 of them died of COVID-19 combined with co-morbid conditions. In fact, when the pandemic began, Chief Minister Eadappadi K. Palaniswami said in the floor of the assembly that only elderly will have to take precautions as they are vulnerable and that his government would not allow any deaths in the state.
However, three months later on June 21, as the chief minister launched a COVID-19 300-bed institutional quarantine facility at a private college in Chennai, he said “God only knows when the pandemic will end.” Answering a question from the scribes on when the pandemic could be eradicated, the chief minister said that the virus would come under control only step by step.
“The lockdown is a speed breaker. It prevents the spread of the virus. The experts are saying that we cannot eradicate it. We can only prevent it. We must wear masks whenever we go out and we should follow social distancing norms,” he said.
