Amid soaring cases in the state, Tamil Nadu Health Minister Vijayabaskar said that the number of COVID-19 cases would go high in the state due to the influx of the people from other regions particularly from the worst-hit regions as the influx and the resumption of the domestic passenger flight services would levy huge challenge to the government. 

While addressing the reporters on Monday, the health minister said that people who returned from the other states including Gujarat, Maharashtra, West Bengal, and Madhya Pradesh had accounted for over 5% of the total positive cases reported in the state for the past ten days. They have returned to the state through train and road and the state government has been enhancing the testing and screenings at the check posts and the railway stations. 

According to the health minister, 942 people who returned from other regions have tested positive for the virus from May 9 till May 25- Monday and of these 942 people, 726 people came from Maharashtra - which is the worst-hit state in India, 21 came from Gujarat, 19 from West Bengal while 15 returned from Delhi. All the returnees have been screened at the border and the symptomatic people have been kept under isolation to contain the spread. 

Tamil Nadu has been witnessing more inflows from the other regions and the government has been quarantining the people in the airport and in railway stations based on their mode of travel and the minister reiterated that the state has been doing better than the rest of Indian states when it comes to COVID-19 testing. Vijayabaskar stated that of the total cases till Monday, 88% are asymptomatic and the rest have shown the symptoms for the virus. 

The state has recorded 118 deaths so far as of Monday and about 85% of people who died were identified to have co-morbid conditions with most deceased had existing ailments of diabetes and hypertension and two-thirds of deaths were above 60 years of age. The minister highlighted that the number of positive cases would increase as the Center had resumed the services of domestic flights from Monday. 

While there is no limit for departures from Chennai airport, the airport would see the arrivals of 25 flights per day, and the government issued fresh guidelines for the passengers who arrive at the airport. The government has mandated all the passengers to undergo screening and home/institutional quarantine. 

On Monday, the state had reported 805 cases of which 549 belong to Chennai alone. These 805 cases include 93 people who came to the state from other regions ( 87 from Maharashtra, three from Gujarat, two from Kerala, and one from Andhra Pradesh). Chennai has reported 11,131 cases so far and the increase in the cases in the influx of Maharashtra has signaled the rise of Maharashtra cluster after Tablighi Jamaat and Koyambedu clusters.

Also read: Returning to Tamil Nadu through air? You must know these guidelines..