TN health dept steps up measures to counter Covid surge

Chennai, April 11 The Tamil Nadu health department has stepped up measures to counter the Covid resurgence after the state's active caseload breached the 2,000 mark.

In the last 24 hours, the state reported 386 new cases, which increased the overall active caseload to 2,099.

Also on Monday, a 63-year-old woman succumbed to the virus, leading to concerns over the current Covid situation.

Addressing the media, Tamil Nadu Health Minister Ma Subramanian however, said that there was no need to worry as the Covid strain that is in circulation in the country is of a milder variety and not lethal.

However the steady increase in fresh cases has led the state health department to step up measures, including the increase of beds, oxygen requirement, readying ICUs for any eventualities, as well as to ensure the availability of doctors and support staff like nurses and paramedics.

Meanwhile, Subramanian told that "64,281 beds are ready, of which 33,664 are oxygen-supported, 22,820 are non-oxygen and 7,797 ICU beds".

He said that the state's liquid oxygen storage capacity stood at 2,067 metric tonnes and added that there were 342 RT-PCR testing centres across Tamil Nadu.