Tamil Nadu’s encounter with coronavirus has reached a crucial and critical stage as the number of persons tested positive for the pandemic reached 5,409 on Thursday evening. Medical bulletin issued by the Directorate of Health and Family Welfare said that 580 persons tested positive for coronavirus on Thursday.
Out of the 580 new cases, Chennai accounted for 316 persons making it the district with the highest number of covid-19 patients. There are 2,644 patients in the metropolis. The day also saw two persons succumbing to the pandemic making the number of fatalities to 37.
Since last week, the number of persons testing positive for coronavirus increased by leaps and bounds in Tamil Nadu . On April 30, the State recorded 130 persons while the next day it registered 203 patients. On May 2, there were 231 new cases while the next day saw 266 persons testing positive for the pandemic. On May 4, Tamil Nadu was bewikdered when the government announced that 527 persons tested positive on a single day. Since then the numbers increased steeply with 508, 771 and 580 respectively.
The main reason for the consistent and consecutive hike in the number of persons testing positive for the pandemic is the scant disregard the general public is showing towards the guidelines and prohibitory orders issued by the Government of Tamil Nadu. The Fruits and Vegetable Market at Koyambedu, Tamil Nadu’s leading mandi (market) spread across 65 acres accounted for most of the coronavirus cases in the State. “Wholesale and retail businessmen crowded the market along with people who frequented for purchasing vegetables for household uses. There was no sign of any precautions like face mask or social distancing and it was known on April 26 itself that Tamil Nadu is in for a major crises,” said Dr C V Krishnaswamy, lead physician in Chennai, The Pioneer had reported about the unprecedented and uncontrolled activities of the people in the cluster during the last week itself and of a possible ‘explosion’ in the number of coronavirus cases.
Though the Government of Tamil Nadu is reluctant to accept the fact that coronavirus has become a pandemic propagated by community transmission, virologists of repute are of the view that the disease has entered the stage of community transmission. “One infected person in the community, unaware that he is infected, infects others in the community. If A was infected by a known contact B, in epidemiology we say B infected A. when contact is unknown we say ‘someone in the community infected A. Hence the term community transmission,” writes Dr T Jacob John, former professor of virology, Christain Medical College, Vellore, in a scientific paper he authored about the present state of affairs.