A 19-membered medical committee comprising of Dr. Beela Rajesh, Dr, Pargdeep Kaur from national institute of Epedemiology, ICMR, Dr. Sowmya Swaminathan, Chief Scientist, WHO and a few others held a two hour meeting with the Chief Minister. Dr. Kaur was quoted saying, “We really appreciate the efforts taken by the Tamil Nadu Government. Medical care and facilities, doctors’ efforts have all been well monitored. However, we have recommended that the lockdown be extended to another 14 days to understand the situation better and control the spread. Further information will be announced soon.”
Earlier the Chief Minister informed in the secretariat that an expert opinion is awaited to prolong the lockdown. “The number of people infected with coronavirus in Tamil Nadu is increasing day by day. With this in mind, we have formed a medical committee with 19 members. The state government will decide based on the inputs from this committee and the 12 separate committees of top bureaucrats about the extension of the lockdown. We have ordered four lakh Rapid test kits. We will get 50000 kits tonight. The central government has also promised to send us 20000 kits, which is expected to reach tomorrow,” the CM said.
He also added that the state has placed orders to procure 2500 more ventilators to tackle the COVID-19 crisis, in addition to the 3371 ventilators already in ready-to-use state in Tamil Nadu.
“Once the test kits arrive, we will be testing the family members of those who are already tested positive for COVID-19. After that, tests will be performed on those who have come in contact with these people. Then people living in the areas around the spot will be subjected to testing. That is why we have procured 4 lakh Rapid test kits,” he informed.