COVID-19: Tamil Nadu crosses 1,000 deaths with 68 new fatalities

Deaths due to the COVID-19 infection in Tamil Nadu breached the 1,000-mark with 68 new fatalities being reported on Saturday (June 27), while the total number of confirmed cases crossed 78,000 with 3,713 fresh infections.

Tamil Nadu’s infection count now stands at 78,335 cases, including 1,025 deaths. The state reported more than 3,500 cases for the third straight day. The number of recoveries was at 2,737 today, totalling to 44,094 people getting discharged after recovery, according to the bulletin by the state health department.

With the government laying emphasis on ramping up testing of samples, the number tested on Saturday was at 34,805, taking the count to 10,77,454. Active cases in the state stood at 33,213, the bulletin said.

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Meanwhile, State Health Secretary J Radhakrishnan said on Saturday that over 10.42 lakh COVID-19 tests have been conducted in Tamil Nadu and the focus was to cover the population street-wise for early detection and treatment.

The basic idea of detecting the symptomatic cases through fever camps is to ensure a healthy population by early detection and treatment for COVID-19, he said. “So, when people step out of their houses after the lockdown is relaxed, they do not emerge as carriers of the virus,” he told reporters after reviewing a fever camp at Tondiarpet.

He said Tamil Nadu has tested over 10.42 lakh samples for COVID-19, after the capacity was ramped up in the State. Of these tests, 70 per cent of them were done in government facilities, he said.

Video-journalist dies due to COVID-19

A 41-year-old video-journalist working for a Tamil television channel in the news section
died of COVID-19 at a hospital in Chennai on Saturday, the government said. The video cameraman, who was being treated from June 14 at a hospital here for the infection, died today, Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami said.

Condoling his death, the chief minister said he has ordered a solatium of ₹5 lakh to the bereaved family. Minister for Information, Kadambur Raju too condoled the death and said he would provide ₹50,000 assistance.

The video cameraman, E Velmurugan’s death was very unfortunate and saddening, Greater Chennai Corporation Commissioner G Prakash said. A journalist for about 20 years, he had worked for a couple of media outlets,the Chennai Press Club said in a statement.

He was treated at the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital here, it said, adding he is survived by wife and 12-year old son. Condoling his death, the press club sought ₹50 lakh solatium for the bereaved family, a government job for the widow and an insurance plan for journalists.

(With inputs from agencies)