While the state of Tamil Nadu is reeling upon huge challenges on its mission of winning the COVID-19 battle, the recent internal assessment of the Tamil Nadu government shows that the state has got a long way to go and more things to do to contain the spread as it was predicted that the COVID-19 cases would soar in Chennai in July. 

According to the reports that quoted the assessment of the Tamil Nadu government, Chennai may report over two lakh COVID-19 cases by July 23 and the city would need more than 40,000 beds and 2,000 ventilators to enhance the facilities for treating the heavy caseload. The city currently has a high infection rate in the state with the exponential rise of cases and every fifth sample tested has returned positive for the virus. 

According to Chennai Corporation Commissioner Prakash, the city has tested over 2 lakh samples so far as of Thursday. The reports say that the officials are under process of installing more beds, oxygen pipelines, and ventilators to accommodate more patients along with deploying doctors, nurses, and medical staff for the secondary COVID-19 care centers in the city, as the care centers play a crucial role in treating people with the mild and moderate symptoms.

The assessment highlighted the current need for hospital beds in Chennai and in the districts that report more cases. The assessment noted that Chennai would need more than 40,000 beds without oxygen and 1,200 beds with oxygen facilities along with 3,800 ICU beds and 2,000 more ventilators and the city's adjacent and worst-hit districts Kancheepuram, Thiruvallur, and Chengalpattu need the pack of more than 14,000 beds, 1,000 ventilators, and 1,600 beds with oxygen supply. 

The government would also concentrate on installing more COVID-19 care centers across the state to house people who have developed mild/moderate symptoms for the pandemic. The state government has directed the district collectors to identify the facilities including marriage halls, educational institutions, and auditoriums with sufficient grounds of being a COVID-19 care center across the state. 

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The assessment further stated that districts like Tuticorin, Tiruvannamalai, Ranipet, Ramanathapuram, and Pudukottai have been recording the sharpest rises and these districts are also under the requirement of additional beds and ventilators. According to the government, there were 1,603 COVID-19 patients getting treated in the four state-run medical colleges in Chennai on Wednesday.

Of these, 155 had severe symptoms, 710 had moderate symptoms while another 390 patients were admitted in the COVID-19 health centers and in the same day, 1,494 patients were at the private hospitals in the city and most of them had mild symptoms and of these, 10% were on the ventilator support and 4% were under the requirement of high-flow oxygen. 

According to the reports, Rajiv Gandhi General Hospital and Stanley Medical College in Chennai had recently added 500 beds each to its capacity as the city is deploying its mechanisms to curb the spread and treat the patients. The medical experts' had asked the state government to ramp up the COVID-19 testing in Chennai at least by 30% of what it has currently been doing for the early detection of cases. As of Thursday, Chennai has reported 37,070 cases while the state has reported 52,334 cases so far.

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