The newly formed government led by MK Stalin in Tamil Nadu is steering through the Mammoth task of addressing the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic and augmenting the medical infrastructure in the state. The state government has been concentrating in all the quarters in containing the spread from installing measures at the hospitals to imposing the lockdown in the state. Amid the efforts and measures, state health minister M Subramanian has revealed what's the biggest challenge for the government in fighting the pandemic.

Speaking to the Times of India, Subramanian said that the biggest challenge for the Tamil Nadu government in its fight against the pandemic is the hesitancy of the people in rural areas and the poor in urban areas to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. He said that the government has been creating awareness for the people to get vaccinated and while hesitancy in receiving the vaccine is the biggest challenge, another major challenge is a delay caused by people in seeking medical care.

Subramanian is Stalin's pick to flatten the COVID-19 curve in the state and ever since he assumed the office of the Health Minister, he is on a war foot in triumphing the battle against the pandemic. Subramanian has been bracing up the challenges is enforcing the measures and ensuring that all the government hospitals are equipped with proper infrastructure and adhere to the government's guidelines.

During an interview, Subramanian said that the election campaigns were one of the factors that put the cases to surge but he asserted that the government has got no time to blame others and the priority of the Stalin administration is to set things right and back on track and the government is focusing towards it. He has transferred deans of a few medical colleges for permitting attendants of Covid patients inside the Covid wards and ICUs, despite the government's orders of banning it. 

He asserted that though the pandemic is at its peak in the state, the cases will begin declining within a month, and daily fresh cases in Chennai have remained below 7,000 for four consecutive days and the numbers have also been declining in several other districts. Subramanian has highlighted that lack of awareness among the people is a major concern. Everyone should realize that the lockdown is being imposed to keep them safe and they also must understand that any acts of violation would put themselves and others at risk. 

Differentiating the first wave and second wave of the pandemic, Subramanian said that the studies show a single person is infecting up to 400 people in the second wave and adult people should realize that if they receive the vaccine, it will encourage the young people to take the dose. He also quoted about the state's vaccination programme and said that of the 78 lakh vaccine doses received from the Center, the state government has administered 69 lakh doses. 

The government has paid Rs 46 crore for procuring 13 lakh doses and of that, nine lakh doses have arrived so far and the government has floated global tenders to procure vaccines to vaccinate people between 18 and 44 years of age. He also said that Chief Minister MK Stalin will be launching the vaccination programme to inoculate doses to the people between 18 and 44 years of age on Thursday at Perundurai Industrial estate. 

By reiterating that getting infrastructure and human resources ready are his tasks, Subramanian has instructed the people to get treatments at the government hospitals for primary, secondary, and tertiary care. According to the state health department, Tamil Nadu has reported 34,875 fresh Covid cases, 23,863 discharges, and 365 deaths. Overall, the state has recorded 16,99,225 COVID-19 cases so far as of Wednesday of which 2,53,576 are active, 14,26,915 have been discharged, and 18,734 had succumbed to the viral infection.