Tamil Nadu has managed to bring the Covid-19 pandemic under control, if the government details are any indication. A State which was about to top the table with the maximum number of positive cases, has brought down the number of new persons diagnosed with the pandemic to 586 as on Saturday evening. The 24 hours ending Saturday night saw the fatalities coming down to just two.
“This is a marked change from the weeks when Tamil Nadu used to test 6000 to 7000 new Covid-19 cases daily and the death tally per day hovered around 200 to 300 for many weeks. Till Saturday the State lost 12, 309 persons to the pandemic. But as on Saturday, there are only 5073 patients across Tamil Nadu. This is the State which used to have lakhs of Covid-19 patients,” said a physician working with Tamil Nadu Government Health Services who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswamy and Health Minister Vijayabaskar attributed the success to the dedication shown by the doctors, nurses, paramedical staff and workers in the departments of health, revenue, police and the general public. “But for their sacrifices and cooperation, we would not have reached this level,” said Vijayabaskar.
But DMK president M K Stalin alleged that the Palaniswamy Government was a total failure in handling the Covid-19 at Ground Zero. “The fight against Covid-19 succeeded in the State because of the DMK's Ontrinaivom Vaa programme which reached crores of people. The DMK launched a campaign to feed one crore people and offer medical facilities. Covid-19 exposed Palaniswamy is a hopeless Chief Minister who has no concern for the people,” said Stalin while speaking to a pro-Left newspaper.
The fever clinics opened by the State Government across the State, the awareness programme carried out by various departments of the Government and the medical fraternity who worked round-the-clock with the twin objectives of preventing the spread of the pandemic and managing the patients contributed a lot in bringing down the cases and fatalities, said the Government physician. Veteran physician Dr C V Krishnaswamy, who was monitoring the situation in Tamil Nadu from day one, agreed there has been a change in the course of the pandemic. “No doubt, it is a positive development. But I would like to be cautious because you have to take into account what is happening in Kerala,” he said.
Kerala, which by May 2020 had claimed that it was free of Covid-19 is reeling under yet another onslaught of the pandemic, which experts describe as a third wave of attack. By Saturday evening, the State diagnosed 6,960 new cases. There are more than 72,000 patients under treatment in the State, according to the Department of Health release.
