Talking about the spread of social media messages and other information on reportedly a new variant of Covid, 'NeoCov', that is said to have a very high mortality, the Health Minister clarified that there is no need to panic unnecessarily and circulate such messages as that information is not confirmed. "Only after WHO gives official on any information about the virus, it should be believed and on the preventive side, vaccination is the key," he added.

A total of 9.39 crore people in Tamil Nadu have been vaccinated against Covid, with 5.20 crore people above 18 years of age vaccinated with first dose, which is about 89.88 percent of the population. A total of 3.90 crore people aged above 18 years have been vaccinated with both the doses, which is about 64.1 percent of the eligible population.

Health Minister said that in the 15-18 years age group, 33.46 lakh children are eligible and 77.46 percent of these i.e., 29.91 lakh children have been vaccinated. There are 4.48 lakh people eligible for booster doses in the State and 3.44 lakh people have been administered with the same.

"There are 97 lakh eligible people who are due or overdue for the second dose of the vaccines and mega vaccination camps are targetted at vaccinating these people due for their second dose. There are 2,669 panchayats in rural areas where 100 percent vaccination of at least one dose has been done. The vaccination is the only way to prevent Covid, irrespective of the variant, thus, it is important to get vaccinated. Of all the deaths due to Covid, 95 per cent of them are of those who have not been vaccinated," the Health Minister added.