As Tamil Nadu recorded 2,396 coronavirus positive cases on Saturday, the highest number to test positive for the pandemic in a single day, even Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswamy has turned to God Almighty with prayers to save the State.
Out of the 2,396 persons tested positive on Saturday, Chennai accounted for 1,254. The day also saw 38 persons breathing their last due to covid-19 and this took the death toll in the State till date to 704.
The Government-issued medical bulletin said the total positive cases in the State till date touched 56,845. This means from the day the first coronavirus positive case was tested, 56, 845 persons have been diagnose with covid-19. Saturday also saw 1,045 patients coming out of hospitals in the State fully cured the pandemic and the total number of patients who were cured of the disease till date reached 31,316.
Aggressive testing launched by the Government is going on in full steam as 32,186 persons were tested on Saturday and this took the number of perosns tested for the disease till date reaching 8.21 lakh. Edappadi Palaniswamy told reporters that the State is in the forefront in testing for coronavirus and 85 laboratories were working round-the-clock across the State.
Out of the 38 persons who died on Saturday, 33 had co-morbidities (serious ailements like diabetes, hypertension, kidney related issues) while the rest had no co-morbidities.
As the number of people testing positive in the State proceeding on a northward journey, a sense of panic has gripped the administration.Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswamy has left everything at the feet of God Almighty as far as Covid-19 pandemic is concerned. In an interaction with journalists at Guru Nanak College at Velachery, a suburb in Chennai on Saturday, the Chief Minister said he was helpless and does not know when the coronavirus pandemic would subside.
“We are working to prevent the spread of the virus and protect people. We don’t know from where the virus comes and how it spreads. As on date, the medical world does not have a medicine to treat the pandemic. I follow what the medical experts say and God alone knows when Covid-19 would subside,” said the chief minister while one of the reporters asked him how long the pandemic would last.
Chennai and the neighboring districts have been locked down completely since the mid-night of June 19 and it will remain in the shut down mode till June 30. The chief minister said it was not possible at this juncture to tell whether the lock-down would be extended. “The government goes by what the medical experts say. I have one request to the people of Chennai . They should not leave the city under any conditions. We are trying our best to control the spread of the corona virus and I am sure it will yield results soon,” said Palaniswamy.
For the second day in succession, the Greater Chennai Corporation area wore a deserted look. Abhijit Nakulan, a management professional who has made Chennai his home for the last two decades said the city resembled a ghost town now.
“Roads are empty barring the occasional emergency vehicles. People are not venturing out as the Police has tightened the rule. We cannot move beyond the 2 km radius from our house to buy essential goods. I have never seen the City like this barring the day when former chief minister Jayalalithaa died in 2016,” said Abhijit.