COVID-19 cases spike to 234 in TN as 110 test positive in single day

As many as 110 persons from 15 districts in Tamil Nadu tested positive for COVID-19 on Wednesday (April 1) and all of them had attended the recent religious congregation at Nizamuddin in New Delhi, State health secretary Beela Rajesh said.

With this, the total number of positive cases in the state has risen to 234 — the highest number of new cases reported in the state in a single day so far. Out of the 234 patients, 190 had took part in the congregation.

Totally, 1,103 attendees of the religious gathering have reported to various government hospitals across the State and are currently in isolation wards. On March 31, the health secretary appealed to the attendees to report to the nearby hospital.

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Health department officials have heaved a sigh of relief as they were worried if they could trace more than 500 people who returned from the religious meet. Out of the 1,103, over 500 people have been tested for COVID-19 and the rest will be tested in the coming days, said Rajesh.

On Wednesday, while addressing reporters in Chennai, the health secretary looked more confident of containing the spread of coronavirus. She appealed to the rest of the attendees to report to hospitals.

She said that health and revenue department officials were cordoning off the localities of the confirmed cases. “Each resident in the locality will be tested for fever and other related symptoms and the area will be disinfected,” Rajesh said.