Despite stringent measures in force since last week, there is no respite in the spread of Covid-19 in Tamil Nadu. On Saturday, the directorate of health and preventive medicine disclosed that 19, 588 new persons were diagnosed with Covid-19 till Saturday evening. The fatalities too reached a new high as 147 deaths were reported from across the State till Saturday evening, said the release.
The number of Covid-19 patients in Chennai reached 31,475 on Saturday as 5,829 persons were tested positive till evening. Chengalpattu (1,445), Coimbatore (1,257) and Tirunelveli (812) are the other districts which were causing concern across the State.
The Tamil Nadu Government’s Unified Command Centre for Covid-19 management commissioned on Friday has started helping patients across the State by providing information about hospital bed availability and ICU facilities in areas closer to their places of residence. Till Thursday, this facility was available only in Chennai and neighbouring districts.
Meanwhile the Tamil Nadu Police on late Friday evening arrested Dr Mohammed Imran Khan, a MBBS graduate and his accomplices who were involved in hoarding and black-marketing of Remdesivir, a drug for Covid-19.
Thiruvannamalai based Dr Imran Khan was procuring Remdesivir from Government General Hospital for Rs 8,000 and selling the same at Rs 20,000 , said S Santhi, SP, Civil Supplies Department.