TN to intensify restrictions based on requirement to contain pandemic: Chief Secretary

Team Udayavani, Apr 3, 2021, 6:08 PM IST

Chennai: The Tamil Nadu government said on Saturday it would implement necessary restrictions as per requirement following a spike in COVID-19 cases. Tamil Nadu, since March 5, has been witnessing a rise in fresh coronavirus cases and on April 2, the state had recorded 3,290 new infections, pushing the tally to 8,92,780 and deaths to 12,750.

Chief secretary Rajeev Ranjan took part in a review meeting chaired by union cabinet secretary Rajiv Gauba along with senior officials on Friday.

In an official release, Ranjan said the government was following all the steps as per the guidelines framed by the Centre towards controlling the spread of the virus.

The impact of the virus was closely monitored on a daily basis and restrictions would be intensified as per the requirement, he said.

Ranjan said the cabinet secretary during the review meeting issued necessary guidelines to 11 States which had reported a surge in new COVID-19 infections.

Accordingly, it was decided in the meeting to bring down the COVID-19 positivity rate in states which had reported over 5 per cent.

In Tamil Nadu, though the positivity rate has been below 5 per cent, it was decided to adopt ”increased and aggressive testing” in places which report higher COVID-19 infections.

Steps are being taken to identify those people who were in contact with primary contacts and treat them in isolation if they had contracted the contagion, he said.

Noting that residential complexes reporting more than three cases were declared as ”micro containment zones”, he said till April 2 there were 846 such zones in the state.

He said there was sufficient amount of beds, ventilators, medicines and personal protective equipment gear.

To treat a COVID-19 patient without any delay, services of ”108” ambulances was also utilised, he said,adding people should adhere to the COVID-19 protocol laid down by the government. Since March 16 the state has collected Rs 2.58 crore as penalties from people violating the protocol.

On vaccination, Ranjan said those eligible (above 45) should get vaccinated.

Till April 2, as many as 31.75 lakh people, including healthcare and frontline workers besides those engaged in poll related works and above 45, were vaccinated.

Tamil Nadu has received 54.74 lakh vaccine doses from the Centre as of today, he said.

On deaths caused by the virus, Ranjan said measures were taken to ensure that COVID-19 fatalities remain less in Tamil Nadu.

The government has issued a circular to both government and private run hospitals to follow the ”treatment procedures” as suggested by an expert committee, comprising medical experts from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, towards reducing the deaths caused by COVID-19, he added.