With situations getting more severe, the Medical Committee has reportedly recommended the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu Mr. Edappadi K. Palanisamy to extend the lockdown for another 14 days.
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.
