Chennai, July 20(BPNS)
The Tamil Nadu health department has convened a virtual meeting of the district health officers over the marginal increase in fresh Covid cases and Test Positivity Rates. The meeting will be conducted on Tuesday with the Health secretary participating in the meeting.
Some districts of the state have recorded a marginal increase in Test Positivity Rates(TPR) and in some areas there is a slight increase in the number of fresh cases. While the state as a whole recorded a fall in the number of fresh cases, the department is not taking any risks and hence a meeting at the highest level.
Salem district showed a marginal increase in TPR that went up from 2.6 to 2.8 in the past couple of days. During last week the TPR had come down from 3 to 2.6%.
Tiruvannamalai and Tiruvarur districts also recorded a marginal increase in Test Positivity Rates.
The Greater Chennai Corporation is embarking on a testing spree with the target being 30,000 tests a day instead of the present 22000 tests. After an increase in small clusters, the health officials have decided not to take any chance.
The health department is worried that with the Urban local body elections to be conducted soon, there can be an increase in the number of cases and preventive measures and micro-level management has to be planned well in advance. Another area of concern is the approach of the festival season and people coming out in large numbers to shop.
The state reported 28 deaths on Monday and health officials are satisfied with the falling number of deaths in the state.
Meanwhile, state health minister Ma Subramanian has directed officials to conduct a detailed inspection of the Private nursing colleges which have come up in the past ten years of the AIADMK regime. The health minister directed the officials to conduct a proper investigation on the infrastructure of these colleges.
While speaking to BPNS, Ma Subramanian said, “Several nursing colleges have come up in the state in the past ten years. It’s good but I have received complaints that several of these colleges don’t have proper infrastructure and that many are functioning in rented premises which is against the rules. We will have to check all these factors and if these colleges are found short of the necessary infrastructure and other facilities, the government will take stringent action.”
