Covid-19: Festival impact not seen in dist so far | Coimbatore News

Coimbatore: The district recorded 142 fresh cases of Covid-19 on Saturday, taking the tally to 48,421, of which 819 are active cases. With 60 patients getting discharged from treatment centres, the number recovered patients rose to 46,991 in the district, where the recovery rate stands at 97%.
It was for the eight time since November 19 that the district recorded less than 150 cases a day on Saturday. In fact, on the two days when the daily count crossed the 150-mark, the increase was marginal, and the numbers stood at 154 (Nov 22) and 158 (Nov 26). This is despite testing 2,500 people a day. This in turn translates into a positivity rate of 6%.
A senior health department official said, “People had started crowding commercial establishments for the festival shopping in the first weekend of November. And the shopping frenzy continued until November 13. While we have completed the incubation period of 14 days, we have not seen a spike in cases so far. We can hence consider that we have passed the Diwali litmus test uneventfully.”
Officials, however, warn people against lowering their guard and not taking precautions. “Many cities such as Mumbai and New Delhi are seeing a hike in cases and these places are connected to the city by many flights and trains. So, people should continue to wear face masks and maintain hand hygiene,” the official said.
The toll, meanwhile, shot up to 611 on the day with four more patients succumbing to the virus. The Covid-19 fatality rate in the district now stands at 1.25%.
Among the dead were a 38-year-old anaemic woman who died 48 hours after hospitalization at the Coimbatore Medical College and Hospital (CMCH) and a 32-year-old woman who had just undergone a C-section. The latter had weakening of heart muscles during the final month of pregnancy, clots in small blood vessels and irregular beating of heart.
The remaining two were a 72-year-old diabetic and hypertensive woman who died of pneumonia and acute respiratory distress at the ESI Hospital after nine days of hospitalization and a 51-year-old diabetic and anaemic woman who died of bilateral bronchopneumonia and metabolic acidosis within 24 hours of hospitalization at CMCH.