TN's COVID spike punctures EPS' vow; decision on lockdown relaxing today

Exactly a week after Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami said the number of COVID-19 cases in the state will become zero in a week, on Sunday (April 19), the state has seen a spike of 105 new cases, of which 50 from Chennai.

In the same presser, he had said that the government will take care of the medical expenses, if any journalists were affected by the disease. Unfortunately, earlier in the day, two journalists were reported to have tested positive.

Related news: Two journalists test positive for coronavirus in Chennai

One of them is a civic issue beat reporter for a local daily and another a television journalist in a Tamil news channel. Their condition is said to be stable.

Meanwhile, three PG medical students of Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital and two policemen have also contracted the disease. As of April 19, the total number of COVID-19 cases in TN stands at 1,477.

Earlier in the day, the government in a statement said that the lockdown restrictions will be in place until the chief minister takes a call on relaxing the curfew for some industries after consulting an expert committee on April 20.