CHENNAI: Perhaps no other government in the State had assumed office amidst such a taxing crisis as the Covid pandemic. The government led by Chief Minister MK Stalin took over the reins on May 7, when the second wave was peaking, and with extraordinary speed the infection rate was contained to a great extent.
Burning the midnight oil even ahead of assuming office, Stalin held a series of meetings with health experts and officials, and initiated a slew of measures and action plans to mitigate the pandemic. On May 7, 26,465 COVID-19 cases were reported in the State.
Subsequently the second wave peaked at 36,184 new cases on May 20, before gradually weakening. Now the number of new cases hovers below 2,000 cases per day. State positivity rate has also fallen to below 2 per cent.
Stalin had declared that Tamil Nadu is facing a Medical Emergency, ordered the setting up of a War Room to monitor the requirement of oxygen, vaccine and hospital beds, and constituted the Chief Minister’s Public Relief Fund to raise funds.
When the DMK government assumed office, there was heavy demand for medical oxygen and people with Covid complications had to wait for hours in front of hospitals to find a bed. But due to the quick steps taken by the government to produce oxygen through private manufacturers and transport it from other States, the situation returned to normalcy in a few weeks.
The Chief Minister had also taken up the issue with the Prime Minister. During the peak of Covid incidence, 3.13 lakh people were affected and the government took effective steps to provide 568.46 metric tonnes of oxygen per day with optimum utilisation.