Covid caseload begins to dip in Madurai, again

On Sunday, 74 persons in the district tested positive for Covid. The number of active cases were 2,213.
A separate ward that was made ready earlier to treat persons infected with the Omicron variant at the Government Rajaji Hospital in Madurai. (File Photo | KK Sundar)
A separate ward that was made ready earlier to treat persons infected with the Omicron variant at the Government Rajaji Hospital in Madurai. (File Photo | KK Sundar)

MADURAI: Covid-19 is playing a rise-and-fall game. If the caseload in the district was on the upward trend from March to April 2021, it began decreasing on May last year before going north again a week before the New Year, just like in the rest of Tamil Nadu.

A month after a sharp rise in Covid cases, the district has been witnessing a steady dip in the spread of the infection. The trend is in stark contrast with that of January this year. While a test positivity rate of 0.3 per cent was registered on January 1, it soared until it reached a peak of 17.4 per cent on January 24.

However, the test positivity rate has gradually been declining since the last week of January, with Saturday recording just 1.3 per cent.

Similarly, the number of daily fresh cases that stood at 11 on January 1 went as high as 903 on January 21. Since then, the district has been recording a fall in the number of fresh infections.

On Sunday, 74 persons in the district tested positive for Covid. Meanwhile, the number of active cases that was at 71 in the beginning of this year shot up to reach the peak at 4,906 on January 25. The number of active cases on Sunday were 2,213.

As on Sunday, there were nine containment zones in the city while two containment zones were there in the rural areas and 841 persons were in home isolation. The number of people in home isolation was 687.

Commenting on the measures taken to curb the spread, a health department official, on condition of anonymity said, since the symptoms are mild in a wide majority of patients, home isolation is encouraged for most patients. "It has also helped bring down the burden on hospitals unlike what happened during the second wave. Further, testing was ramped up and triage centres were established across the city to prevent overcrowding that would lead to new hotspots."

The need for interim Covid Care Centres is almost nil around this time, he added. Despite the dip in cases, the public must continue to follow all Covid-appropriate behaviour, he warned.

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