Chennai: A 57-year-old woman from Chennai died taking the toll in coronavirus disease in Tamilnadu to six, even as 50 fresh positive cases were reported on today, taking the tally to 621.
Health Secretary Beela Rajesh told reporters here that the deceased woman was rushed to the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital (RGGGH) with Severe Acute Respiratory Infection (SARI) last night, with high diabetes and hypertension.
Her family has a history of testing positive, she added. She died today and the blood samples and throat swab have tested positive. Se had a travel history to Trichy on March 20 by train and the contact tracing was on.
With this the number of deaths in Tamilnadu rose to six. The first death was reported in Madurai on 26 March and two more deaths were reported on 4 April (Villuppuram and Theni) and two at Government Stanley Medical College Hospital yesterday.
She said the process of testing people with SARI was also on to identify whether they have any corona symptoms.
She said of the total 621 cases in the State, Chennai topped the list with 110 cases, followed Coimbatore (59), Dindigul (45), Tirunelveli (38) and Erode (32).
Beela Rajesh said of the 50 fresh cases today, 48 of them had links to last month’s Tablighi Jamaat conference in Delhi, while in respect of two others, who they tested positive, was being investigated.
With this the number of positive cases linked to the Delhi meet rose to 570. In respect of Delhi meet, she said about 500 people ahve been identified through contact tracing and so far none of them had any COVID symptoms so far.
Tamilnadu is second on India’s COVID-19 chart behind Maharashtra, where it crossed 600 cases. She said the government was implementing the containment plan in full swing and aggressively in about 32 districts
of the State to prevent spread of the virus.
A total of 11,59,2874 households were covered, screening 40,81,230 population, with the involvement of 26,953 staff. Beela Rajesh said a total of 91,851 patients were under Home Quarantine and 205 in government quarantine centres.
A total of 19,060 people have completed 28 days of quarantine. Stating that none could decipher which way the coronavirus would surface, she said it could affect anyone and appealed to the people not to be averse to them.
“Let’s be gentle and sensitive towards each other and wage a coordinated battle against Covid-19”, she added.