COVID-19: 434 new cases make TN tally cross 10,000 mark; toll 71

Five people succumbed to COVID-19 in Tamil Nadu on Friday (May 15) while 434, including three one-month-old babies, tested positive, taking the number of cases past the 10,000 mark, the state health department said.

The five fatalities include a 53-year-old woman from Chennai and another man from Tuticorin district.

With this, the death toll in the state has risen to 71, a bulletin issued by the department said.

Of the 434 fresh cases, 49 are passengers who arrived from overseas and other states.

Six people from Maldives, 40 from Maharashtra, two from Gujarat and one passenger from Karnataka had contracted the contagion, the bulletin said.

The total number of people who have tested positive for the virus till date is 10,108, it said.

Related news: Tamil Nadu govt to re-open liquor shops; token system to be brought in

Nearly 10,883 people were tested today at the 58 COVID-19 testing facilities, the bulletin said, adding the number of active cases including those in isolation wards was at 7,435.
Those who tested positive on Friday include three one-month-old babies and a one-year-old girl,all hailing from Chennai.

The bulletin said 38 people above 60 years had tested positive for the virus today.

The day also saw 359 people getting discharged from various hospitals, taking the tally to 2,599. Chennai continued to lead the States tally with 309 cases on Friday followed by Tiruvallur 21 and Chengalpattu 20, it added.

The state capital was also leading in the number of fatalities with 48 of the total 71 in the state.

According to the bulletin, the woman who died was suffering from coronary heart disease,diabetes and acute chronic kidney disease. The bulletin said 38 people above 60 years had tested positive for the virus today.

Total number of positive cases in Chennai as on date stands at 5,946 followed by Thiruvallur at 516, Chengalpattu 450 and Cuddalore 416. Dharmapuri has recorded the least number with four.

Earlier on Friday, the Supreme Court paved the way for resumption of liquor sale in the state through Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation retail vends.

As per the new arrangement, those seeking to buy liquor will have to get token first and only then they could make the purchase on the date and time specified, an office- bearer of a TASMAC workers association said here on Friday.

The liquor outlets start sales from tomorrow in non- containment areas, except in Chennai Police limits and Thiruvallur district limits, a press note said.

Shops would be open 10 am to 5 pm and only 500 tokens would be issued to the public per day per shop, the release added.

Related news: TN govt to operate intra-district buses with 50% seating from May 18

Seven different colour-coded tokens have been readied to be provided to the people.

“Preparations for bringing out the tokens in seven colours including blue, green, navy blue, and violent began sufficiently in advance and tokens would be sent to all the outlets for distribution…approximately 500 persons will get the tokens on an average per day,” said general secretary of TASMAC Workers Association D Dhanasekaran.

Meanwhile, expressing satisfaction with the steps taken by the Centre and State governments for conducting COVID-19 tests, the Madras High Court on Friday closed a petition seeking a direction to authorities to set up mobile testing booths.

A division bench recorded the submission of senior central government panel counsel who said the plea was filed without being aware of the fact that mobile testing was not a feasible one.

The PIL was filed by advocate A Amal Antony who also wanted the court to direct the state to form a committee to help the homeless and pavement dwellers and to conduct COVID-19 tests on them and provide appropriate medical treatment, besides making RT-PCR testing free or to charge an affordable fee of ₹500 or less.

According to petitioner, the tests that have been done by the government for COVID-19 was not sufficient to meet the requirements of the masses, on account of the density of the population of the State.

Related news: TN testing only symptomatic people when 90% cases in state show no sign

The petitioner also submitted that the Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) in collaboration with the Employees State Insurance Corporation Medical College and Hospital, Sanath nagar (Hyderabad) has developed India’s first COVID-19 sample collection mobile lab – “Mobile BSL-3 VRDL Lab”, which was approved by ICMR, and the facility may be extended to the downtrodden people.

The Centre submitted that between January 25 to May 6 , 91,985 RT-PCR Kits, 38,038 RNA extraction and 22,900 VTMs were supplied to the Tamil Nadu government.

The Kits were duly approved by agencies including US-FDA besides being validated by NIV-Pune for conducting COVID-19 tests.

The State also on its part filed a detailed counter explaining the steps taken to test the COVID-19 affected people.

“A perusal of the counter and the status reports makes it clear that the Central and State Governments have been taking all necessary steps for extending COVID-19 testing facility to more and more people day by day. Thus, the prayers sought for by the petitioner are satisfied,” a bench of Justices Vineet Kothari and Pushpa Sathyanarayana said and closed the petition.

(With inputs from agencies)