E-Paper
'Don't prescribe home quarantine': Tamil Nadu's new measure to check Covid spike
State health minister Ma Subramanian said the health department took steps to identify the exact reasons behind the surge in new cases.
The Tamil Nadu government on Friday asked officials and doctors to get Covid-19 patients admitted to hospitals instead of home quarantining them in a bid to identify the spike in the number of Covid-19 cases in the state.
State health minister Ma Subramanian said the health department took steps to identify the exact reasons behind the surge in new cases. “On July 28, the state reported 1,756 new cases, but yesterday it increased to 1,859. That is 103 new cases have been added. The state has been witnessing a declining trend in new infections for more than a month and this is the first time it has gone up,” he was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.
Subramanian highlighted that Chennai, Kanyakumari, Coimbatore, Erode and Cuddalore have recorded a surge in new cases. He said that the chief minister MK Stalin enquired about the reasons that could have led to the rise in new infections. He also said that officials have been advised to admit a Covid-19 positive patient to the hospital instead of prescribing home quarantine and monitor those who have come in contact with the patient.
Subramanian opined that one of the possible reasons behind the sharp rise in Kerala could be due to patients preferring to be in home quarantine. Kerala recorded more than 20,000 cases for the fourth consecutive day on Friday with the test positivity rate rising to 13.61%. The state also reported 116 deaths. The Tamil Nadu government is also monitoring those who arrive from Kerala by screening people on the Tamil Nadu-Kerala border. “We continuously screen people who arrive from Kerala via Coimbatore or Kanyakumari. Recently, in Coimbatore, health department officials screened people in at least 13 locations bordering Kerala,” Subramanian said.
He also said that citizens not adhering to Covid-19 preventative measures were also behind the sudden rise in new infections. “Our continuous appeal to the public is to wear masks, wash hands regularly and maintain social distancing norms. Still, people do not follow it,” he said.
