In what has come as a huge relief for the DMDK party members and film fraternities, DMDK Chief Vijayakanth and his wife Premalatha are ready to get discharged from the hospital on Friday, nearly a week after they had tested positive for the COVID-19 viral infection. 

The 68-year-old actor turned politician had tested positive for the pandemic on September 22 and he was admitted to MIOT Hospitals in Chennai. On September 24, the hospital said that the leader is completely stable and he is expected to make a full recovery and should be ready for discharge soon. 

When Vijayakanth was under treatment, his wife and DMDK party treasurer Premalatha had confirmed to have contracted to the viral infection earlier this Monday following which she has also been admitted to the same hospital for treatment. The reports stated that Premalatha's result returned positive when family members of Vijayakanth had gone through COVID-19 testing. 

The hospital has now said that they are ready for discharge and will be discharged on Friday - October 2. According to the latest bulletin released by the managing director of the MIOT Hospitals, "Mr. A Vijayakanth and Mrs. Premalatha had tested positive for COVID-19. They are evaluated at MIOT Hospitals, Chennai, and stayed on for observations. They have responded extremely well to treatment and are getting discharged today". 

The hospital had earlier said that both the leaders are asymptomatic and were responding to the treatment. The reports say that Vijayakanth could have contracted to the novel coronavirus when he attended the party event that was recently held at the party headquarters in Koyambedu. Vijayakanth has already been suffering from prolonging kidney and liver-related ailments and he has been receiving treatments at home and abroad.

Vijayakanth is one of the state political leaders to get affected by the pandemic. So far, over dozens of MLAs including senior ministers in the state had tested positive for the viral infection of which DMK's J Anbalagan had died due to the disease on June 10 while others had either been recovered or getting treated.  

Tamil Nadu's COVID-19 tally has crossed 6 lakhs and as of Thursday- October 1, the state has reported 6,03,290 cases so far of which 46,369 are active, 5,47,335 have been recovered, and 9,586 had succumbed to the pandemic.