Chennai, July 14:
The Tamil Nadu government on Monday evening allayed the fears of the people on the possible outbreak of Covid-19 after two people died in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh and one in Vellore hospital.
Reacting to reports of two Covid deaths in AP, the Public Health and Preventive Medicine department said a 52-year-old man from the neighbouring state undergoing treatment at a private hospital in Tirupati was shifted to a private hospital in Vellore in TN for advanced treatment on June 26. He had severe Klebsiella pneumoniae Bacteria infection and also had Covid-19 infection. Further, he has co-morbidities like diabetes and a long history of kidney infection.
The patient developed Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) complications and died on June 28.
Further, a 68-year-old person, who was undergoing treatment at a private hospital in Vellore died due to Lung cancer and respiratory probems though Incidental findings revealed he has Covid infection.
It said a 46-year-old person who was undergoing treatment for Covid infection, died at a hospital in Cuddapah in AP and his medical case details are being analysed by the AP health department.
The department under the Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP) has been continuously undertaking Routine Surveillance for any COVID-19 case. Moreover, pre-operative tests are being regularly conducted for Covid on patients suffering from ARDS.
Based on the tests, a total of 2,575 cases were found to have been infected with Covid in Tamil Nadu which included 990 in 2024, 1,250 in 2025 and 335 in 2026. These cases were identified only during routine surveillance and monitoring and not due to any Covid outbreak as most of them only had very minor symptoms and there was no proof of the infection getting intensified.
Stating that the Whole Genome Sequencing (WGS) tests conducted at the National Institute of Virology, Pune, has revealed that these were of low intensity and that there has been very low community transmission. Hence, there was no need for the people for any fear or to panic. However, elders, pregnant women and those having long health problems and less immune to infection were advised to follow all precautions and those with symptoms of fever, cought, throat pain and breathing problems are advised to visit the nearest government hospitals for treatment, besides keeping their hands clean following routine precautions during cough and sneezing.
Allaying the fears of the public and instilling confidence in them, the Public Health department categorically said that there was no evidence or proof on spread of high intensity Covid variant. The number of cases in the state were far less when compared to previous years.
The department has been continuously monitoring the situation and appealed to the people not to believe in any rumours and follow the official information shared by the department.