Tamil Nadu Health Secretary J Radhakrishnan also addressed the COVID-19 vaccination drive and monitoring of hotel clusters in Chennai.
Tamil Nadu Health Secretary J Radhakrishnan on Tuesday said three more people have tested positive for the UK variant of the coronavirus, bringing the state total to four positive cases of the variant. During a press meet in Chennai, the Health Secretary addressed concerns of the public regarding the vaccination drive, the two hotel clusters at ITC Grand Chola and Leela Palace, and growing concerns around the bird flu.
Samples to test for the UK variant are being sent to Pune and Bengaluru labs for testing, and the results for 32 people are being awaited. Around 44 people who returned from the UK between November 25 and December 23 have tested positive for COVID-19 in the state.
In regards to the hotel clusters, J Radhakrishnan noted that 166 employees and guests of the hotels have so far tested positive for the novel coronavirus in Chennai. The Health Secretary instructed the public not to panic about clusters emerging from any industry.
“There is no need for panic on the positive cases in the hotels. Till yesterday, the positivity rate was less than 2.7%. We should not worry about the positive cases from one industry. We are testing places where the public gathers. We are also testing hotel employees, vendors etc,” he said.
Radhakrishnan also said that the Animal Husbandry Department is planning to release a standard operating procedure for bird flu. The neighbouring state of Kerala announced bird flu as a state disaster on Tuesday. As a result, Tamil Nadu remains under high vigil and the health officials are taking efforts to stop the spread of the infection. The state borders are bring strictly monitored to avoid any cases, he said.
Read: Avian influenza in Kerala: Bird culling to begin and other things to know
On the vaccination drive, the Health Secretary said, “The supply of the vaccines and the target group will be decided based on the supply from the Union government. We have already readied syringes even though we know that the Union government will provide them. We have 70 lakh injections.”
Tamil Nadu has also designed an IT-enabled app for vaccine drive. “The frontline workers will get details of the booths from where vaccines will be administered.”
The Tamil Nadu government has prepared 51 godowns to store over 2.5 crore vaccines. To ensure last-mile connectivity, 2250 secondary storage points are also being made available across the state, he said.
As of Monday, Tamil Nadu reported 838 new cases of coronavirus and 10 deaths. The capital Chennai recorded 229 cases of the virus.
Source: The News Minute