Covid-19 in Tamil Nadu: State gets investment task force; smartphones for Class 10 SSLC students in Chennai

In a tweet, Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami announced that the state has signed MoUs with 17 institutions for investments worth Rs 15,128 crore and to create 47,150 jobs in Tamil Nadu.

Tamil Nadu reported 817 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, taking the tally to 18,545. The positive cases included 139 persons from other states – 138 from Maharashtra and one from Kerala.

Six people succumbed to the virus on Wednesday as the death toll went up to 133. A further 567 patients were discharged following treatment, taking the total number of recovered cases to 9,909. The recovery rate of Tamil Nadu is now 53 per cent. There are 8,500 active cases in the state.

Chennai alone accounted for 66 per cent of the total cases on Wednesday, reporting 559 cases. There were 40 fresh cases in Thiruvallur, 31 in Chengalapattu, 14 in Kancheepuram, 13 in Thiruvannamalai, five in Tiruvarur, four in Ariyalur, three in Trichy, two each in Cuddalore and Thoothukud. Kallakurichi, Madurai, Nagapattinam, Ramanathapuram, Thanjavur, Tirupathur reported one case each.

So far 1,122 children under the age of 12 have tested COVID-19 positive till date in Tamil Nadu. In the age group between 13 to 60 years, as many as 1,57,965 have tested positive. A total of 1,627 persons above the age of 60 have also been infected.

CM forms Special Investment Promotion Task Force

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami on Wednesday announced that he has formed a Special Investment Promotion Task Force to fight the pandemic in the state. In a tweet, EPS announced that the Tamil Nadu government has signed MoUs with 17 institutions for investments worth Rs. 15,128 crore and to create 47,150 jobs in Tamil Nadu.

Auto rickshaws to distribute Kabasura Kudineer in Royapuram

With Royapuram in Chennai having recorded the highest number of Covid-19 cases in the city till date, Tamil Nadu Fisheries Minister D Jayakumar on Wednesday flagged off auto-rickshaws which will distribute Kabasura Kudineer (a herbal decoction) to each household in the area, to prevent the spread of the virus. The minister also drove an auto-rickshaw to raise awareness.

Chennai Corporation to distribute smartphones to Class 10 SSLC students

Tamil Nadu Minister for Municipal Administration, Rural Development and Implementation of Special Programme, S P Velumani, on Wednesday announced that online classes will soon commence for Class 10 SSLC students who are yet to appear for the state board exams.

The minister announced that 6,000 smartphones will be distributed to the students by the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) to help them with the classes. “I wish good luck to the students who will make use of this opportunity and succeed in their exams,” he tweeted.

42 flights at Chennai International Airport

A total of 42 flights plied between Chennai and major cities on Wednesday. There were 21 arrivals and 21 departures at the Chennai International Airport today. The first flight to Chennai was an Air Asia flight from New Delhi, which touched down at 8.15 am. The last flight to Chennai is a SpiceJet flight at 11.20 pm from New Delhi.

The first flight from Chennai bound for New Delhi departed at 6.35 am, while the last flight for today departed from Chennai at 9.30 pm for New Delhi.

Thousands of migrant workers journey back home

Thousands of migrant workers who were stranded across Tamil Nadu returned to their hometowns via nine Shramik Special trains on Wednesday.

A train between Tiruppur and Balasore left at 11.45 am, followed by a second train from Trichy to Darbhanga at 1.40 pm.

A third train bound for Akbarpur left from Nagercoil station at 2 pm, while a fourth train from Madurai to Akbarpur departed at 2 pm.

This was followed by a fifth train between Chennai and Hatia, which departed at 2.24 pm from the Puratchi Thalaivar Dr. M G Ramachandran Chennai Central Station.

Another train from Tiruppur to Muzaffarpur left at 3.30 pm.

This was followed by a seventh train between Chennai and Bhadrak which departedat 5 pm from the Puratchi Thalaivar Dr. M G Ramachandran Chennai Central Station.

A train between Chennai and Madhubani departed at 6 pm from Chennai Egmore station, followed by another train from Tiruvallur to Gorakhpur at 7.45 pm.

All the passengers were thermally scanned before boarding and were instructed to adhere to social distancing norms while boarding and travelling.