COVID centre to be shut as cases dip, polytechnic to resume

Health officials when contacted said that with daily COVID-19 cases registering a gradual decrease, there are enough beds in the district to handle any sudden spike. At present, the Gudiyattam government hospital has 175 beds, the Vellore Government Pentland taluk hospital and the ESI hospital have 125 beds and 50 beds respectively.

“Also, the CMC hospital has 900 beds and half of them can be used for admitting COVID19 patients. We feel that closure of the CCC will not affect the services in any manner,” top official said.

“The remaining 15 in-patients in the CCC are likely to be discharged by Friday. However, none of the beds and mattresses in the centre has been removed until now,” they added. Officials’ confidence is based on the fact that daily COVID cases have come down over the last week. The number of new cases recorded was 106, 139, 134 and 116 on September 13, 14, 15 and 19.

Minister of Information and Publicity Kadambur C Raju on Thursday said that Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswamy is very much concerned about the well being of people and he’s the only Chief Minister in India to make field inspections at the district level and review progress in tackling COVID challenges.

While addressing a gathering in Thoothukudi, he said, “ Nearly 15 times, the Chief Minister had convened meetings with district Collectors to control the spread further. Normally, only ministers of portfolio concerned would pay attention to such issues and review safety and preparedness measures. However, the Chief Minister has directly involved in COVID control measures.”

“Initially, after reviewing such measures and also simultaneously engaging in inaugurating development projects and foundation laying for new programmes in Chennai, Palanisawami engaged himself in similar programmes at Tiruchy, Salem and in southern districts of Madurai, Tirunelveli and Tenkasi. Likewise, he is scheduled to visit Thoothukudi on September 22 on request,” he added.

On COVID tackling measures, he said Tamil Nadu stood first among other states with the highest testing centres and the highest testing rate. With all such strenuous efforts, COVID recovery rate touched 86 per cent in Tamil Nadu. “In the wake of the virus outbreak this year, COVID positive cases in Chennai crossed 3,000. However, it has come down below 1,000 owing to stringent control measures,” he said.The Minister also said Thoothukudi has the lowest moratality rate in the State.