COVID-19: 8 doctors, 5 nurses test positive in TN as state total rises to 1075

Tamil Nadu Health Secretary Beela Rajesh stated that the state will now focus on aggressive testing.

Coronavirus Coronavirus

Eight doctors and five nurses in Tamil Nadu have tested positive for COVID-19 in Tamil Nadu as of April 12. Of the eight doctors, four belong to private hospitals, two to government hospitals and two others work at railway hospitals.

After a brief dip in its number of COVID-19 infected patients, Tamil Nadu reported 106 new COVID-19 cases on Sunday, taking the total above 1000. The state currently has 1075 COVID-19 cases.

Of the 106 new cases, 16 have inter-state travel history while the others are their contacts.

Speaking to reporters on Sunday, Health Secretary Beela Rajesh said 49 cases of Severe acute Respiratory Infection (SARI) were tested on Sunday, of which two have tested COVID-19 positive.

“Containment activities are being done in 34 districts across the state and 20,47,289 houses have been covered, and 82,94,625 persons have been tested. 459 containment sectors have been split across the state and 34,792 healthcare workers are engaged in health surveillance,” she said.

Bella Rajesh reiterated, “Our strategy now is aggressive testing - secondary contact and those with influenza and SARI symptoms are being tested. We have enough testing kits for this.”

From 74 cases on March 31, the numbers have increased by over 14 times in 12 days. 11 persons have died due to the disease in the state while 50 have recovered so far. The most number of cases on Sunday has been reported from Tirupur, where 35 COVID-19 positive cases have emerged. In Coimbatore, 22 COVID-19 cases have been reported on Sunday. The total number of COVID-19 cases is highest in Chennai district at 199.

Tamil Nadu Chief Secretary K Shanmugam had on Saturday informed the media that there was a delay in procuring the rapid test kits from China, explaining that the consignment meant for India was sent to the United States of America.

On Sunday, Beela Rajesh added that the state currently has 24,000 RNA testing kits (different from Rapid Test Kits) and an additional 90,000 kits are expected this week.