VELLORE: With a large chunk of the working class population, Gudiyatham, in Vellore district, has become a hotbed of Covid, with about 10 people dying of the disease and severe respiratory problems daily. The situation has worsened in the last 10 days, leaving the government on tenterhooks.
Activists in Gudiyatham, a hub of small industries in the district, say about 100 Covid cases are reported in the region every day. But officials of the Health Department say the number is only between 60 and 80, and the rest are Severe Acute Respiratory Infections (SARI) cases.
Block medical officer (BMO) Vimal Kumar further said only 2-3 people in Gudiyatham die of Covid daily, and the remaining 4-5 deaths, on an average, are due to SARI. The number of Covid cases has been on the rise due to the lack of physical distancing, says social activist and CPM leader K Saminathan. “The local people are not following the rules, but roaming around fearlessly.
However, there has been some improvement in the last two days,” he noted, and stressed the need for the authorities to strictly enforce the lockdown. As for casualties, the spike has been attributed to a delay in getting tested. “People with mild symptoms are not coming to get tested early. If the disease is identified early, we can reduce chance of death. We have initiated appropriate action to detect symptomatic persons,” said deputy director of health services T Manivannan.