With the number of positive cases crossing 1,100, the Tamil Nadu government is still waiting for the rapid test kits for COVID-19 to arrive from China. While the consignment is expected to reach by Tuesday evening, the state health department has decided to go ahead with the existing PCR test kits. Tamil Nadu government will go for aggressive testing, said health secretary Beela Rajesh. “We are testing people with flu-like symptoms also. We tested 62 people with Severe Acute Respiratory Infection (SARI) patients today, and none of them have tested positive for the virus,” she said. On the number of testing kits available with the Tamil Nadu government, she clarified that there are 24,000 PCR kits; the rapid test kits for which the orders have been placed will arrive soon. Talking about ventilators and PPEs for doctors and other medical staff, she said the Tamil Nadu government was completely prepared by the end of January and “orders were placed for ventilators and other required medical equipment well in advance”.
However, sources in the health department say they are still waiting to hear from Argentina and Israel with regard to the orders it had placed for the 1,000 ventilators. Sources say that the state may not get the 1,000 ventilators—500 each from Argentina and Israel—as there is a ban on export for ventilators in the two countries. Sources say that the state government has sought the help of the ministry of external affairs to get this cleared. Sources also say that the consignment might reach only by the end of May. The state already has 3,371 ventilators, according to a media bulletin released by the health department.
Tamil Nadu, on Monday, reported another massive spike in the number of COVID-19 patients. With 98 more patients testing positive, the total tally has touched 1,173. Of these, 31 are children below the age of 10. Meanwhile, 58 patients have recovered and have been discharged from the hospitals.
The state has tested 12,746 samples out of which 1,173 have tested positive. Out of the 12,746 samples 1,136 samples are under process. Of the 1,173 cases, Chennai tops with 205 cases, while Coimbatore has 126 cases and Tirupur recorded 79 cases. Meanwhile, a doctor from Nellore, practising at a private hospital, died of COVID-19 on Monday. The body had to be taken back by the hospital staff after the staff at the crematorium refused, and local residents, fearing spread, did not allow the body to be cremated there. Later, the police and health officials negotiated and the body was taken back to the crematorium. Incidentally, the doctor’s family is in home quarantine in Nellore and none of them could attend the funeral. Also, two more doctors and three nurses tested positive on Monday, increasing the tally of medical staff affected by COVID-19 in the state to 10. “Soon the doctors might stop turning up to work, given the difficulties they are facing,” said a healthcare professional associated with one of the private hospitals in Chennai.