TN reports 3 deaths, total cases rise to 485

Two Coronavirus patients -- a male and a female -- died in Tamil Nadu on Saturday, taking the number of Covid-19 related deaths to three, said an official.

The state also saw an increase of 74 new Covid-19 positive cases, taking the total number cases in the Tamil Nadu to 485.

"A male aged 51 years died at a hospital in Villupuram on Saturday. He was one of the persons who had gone to Delhi to attend the Tablighi Jamaat religious congregation last month," a health department official told IANS.

In Theni district, a 53-year old female, the wife of a Covid-19 patient, died in the hospital.

Speaking to reporters here Health Secretary Beela Rajesh said the male who died on Saturday had attended the religious conference organised by Tablighi Jamaat in Delhi last month.

The woman who died on Saturday was the wife of a person who had attended the Tablighi Jamaat meet, who is undergoing treatment after testing positive for the dreaded virus.

The first person to die on Saturday was from Madurai, and was a contact of the person who had attended the Tablighi Jamaat meet.

As on Saturday, Tamil Nadu reported a total of 485 Covid-19 positive cases and more than 400 of them had attended the Tablighi Jamaat meet in Delhi's Nizamuddin area last month.

Rajesh said out of the 74 new cases reported on Saturday, 73 had attended the Tablighi Jamaat meet. The remaining person is a foreigner.

According to Rajesh, about 1,200 persons from the state have returned to the state after attending the Tablighi Jamaat event and throat swabs and blood samples of them have been collected for testing.

Terming the Covid-19 spread as medical disaster, Rajesh said the government has asked the National Institute of Epidemilogy to study the pattern of the infection and its spread.

She said many of those who were asymptomatic have later started to show symptoms of the dreaded disease.

On Saturday, the government announced a list of private hospitals in the state that can admit and treat Covid-19 patients.

Rajesh said the personnel of private hospitals have been trained to handle Covid-19 patients and daily video conferencing with them is also being held.