COVID-19 recovery rate high in TN, says Palaniswami

The COVID-19 recovery rate was high while fatalities were low in Tamil Nadu, Chief Minister K Palaniswami said on Tuesday.

In view of a slew of anti-COVID-19 initiatives being taken by the government, the recovery rate was high, he said adding adequate relief was also being provided to the poor people.

"The deaths due to COVID-19 is very low," he added. According to the health department data, as on June 15, state's total COVID-19 positive cases are 46,504 and 25,344 people recovered.

While 20,678 are the active cases, 479 patients, several of them with co-morbidities died which puts the recovery rate at 54.49 per cent. As per Centre's COVID-19 data, Rajasthan, with 12,981 total cases and 9,785 recoveries has a recovery rate of 75 per cent.

Over 13 lakh differently-abled people in Tamil Nadu will get Rs 1,000 cash relief to help them during the ongoing lockdown phase, Chief Minister K Palaniswami said here on Tuesday. Palaniswami, a day after announcing another round of Rs 1,000 cash assistance to rice ration card holders and workers of unorganised sector, said there are about 13.35 lakh people with differently-abled identity cards in Tamil Nadu.

Pointing out that Tamil Nadu has been implementing lockdown till June 30 with relaxations, he said considering the livelihood options of differently-abled during these times, he has ordered disbursement of Rs 1,000 cash assistance to 13.35 lakh persons with identity cards in the state. After the lockdown kicked in on March 24, the Tamil Nadu government provided cash assistance to ration card holders and several others including workers and artisans.

Last month, he had ordered extension of COVID-19 financial assistance to all hairdressers irrespective of whether they were members of a State board for their welfare or not. The government disbursed Rs 2,000 in two instalments to 14,667 members of the State welfare board for hairdressers initially and subsequently the assistance was extended to others as well.