Covid-19 cases rise to 24 in Tamil Nadu

TNN / Updated: Mar 5, 2023, 06:26 IST

Text Size

Small
Medium
Large

With cases of viral infections continuing to rise, Tamil Nadu is seeing a spike in Covid-19 cases. Fresh cases of Covid-19 rose to 24 on Friday, as compared to six cases on Feb 15 and active cases rose to 119 from 45. On Saturday, there were 29 new cases and 134 active cases.

Image used for representative purpose only

CHENNAI: With cases of viral infections continuing to rise, Tamil Nadu is seeing a spike in Covid-19 cases. Fresh cases of Covid-19 rose to 24 on Friday, as compared to six cases on Feb 15 and active cases rose to 119 from 45. On Saturday, there were 29 new cases and 134 active cases.

Officials in the directorate of public health said there were spikes in Coimbatore and Chennai, but there were no clusters.Chennai reported around 17 new cases between February 25 and Friday, Coimbatore reported 28 new cases. On Saturday, Chennai logged four new cases compared to six in Coimbatore. Public health officials say that these were "isolated cases" of Covid-19, which is now endemic.
Until two weeks ago, doctors say spike in fever cases were caused by influenza and viruses such as para influenza, respiratory syncytial virus, adenovirus, and rhinovirus. "That situation continues. We will not be able to reason why there is a spike in Covid now because the disease is endemic and expected to remain like this for a few years," said Dr S Raju, who heads the state public health laboratory.

However, most people who were tested for fever were positive for H3N2, a influenza A variant. Symptoms resemble seasonal flu viruses and can include fever and respiratory symptoms, such as cough and runny nose, and possibly other symptoms, such as body aches, nausea, vomiting, or diarrhoea. "We haven't seen spikes in deaths, but morbidity is high. Several patients complain of cough and fatigue for at least a week after fever," said Apollo Hospitals infectious diseases expert Dr V Ramasubramanian.
On most occasions symptoms settle down with medicines but some people may require hospitalisation. While health minister Ma Subramanian said people must continue to wear masks, maintain social distance and hand hygiene to prevent such ailments, infectious diseases experts recommend flu vaccinations besides Covid-19 boosters. "It will cut down transmission rates and prevent complications and death," Dr Ramasubramanian said.

End of Article