Amid prevalent chaos and uncertainty over access to the essential services and commodities during the lockdown, we bring you the latest updates from Chennai.
* Even as the state government maintained that an IndiGo airlines employee, who died at Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital a day before, is not a Covid-19 patient, the body was buried as per the protocol reserved for people who die with novel coronavirus infection. Health department authorities are looking to track people who might have come into contact with the patient.
* Three zones in the heart of Chennai have reported 48% of the city’s cases with Covid-19-like symptoms, the door-todoor screening by Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) has revealed. These are Anna Nagar (zone 8), Teynampet (zone 9) and Kodambakkam (zone 10).
* The Tamil Nadu police have issued a nationwide alert to trace a 30-year-old man from Delhi who had tested positive for Covid-19 and has now gone missing from Villupuram. The police have sought help from other states to find the man who was jailed in Puducherry in connection with an accident case.
* With several states preferring an extension, the country-wide lockdown is likely to be extended up to April 30. But Tamil Nadu is hoping that the extension will come with relaxations, with permission for certain industrial segments to resume operations under strict norms.
* In an attempt to prevent doctors, nurses and paramedical staff from getting exposed, the health department has permitted private hospitals to start exclusive fever clinics in containment wards. The Indian Medical Association’s state wing also released dress code for doctors in ‘non-covid’ clinics and hospitals. Eight doctors, a lab assistant and postgraduate student of naturopathy have so far tested positive for the virus.