TN reports 2 COVID-19 deaths: CM puts Chennai, other urban areas under full shutdown mode

: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami has announced a complete shutdown beginning Sunday in Chennai, Coimbatore and Madurai for four days to check the COVID-19 spread, as two people--a 67-year-old man and a 70-year-old woman -- died due to coronavirus while 72 people tested positive on Friday.

The fresh cases have taken the total aggregate in the state to 1,755, a health department bulletin said.

With the death of the two people, the total number of deaths in the state now stands at 22.

Fifty-two of the 72 cases were from Chennai alone, taking the tally in the state capital to 452, the bulletin said.

According to the health department, the 67-year old man who was admitted to the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital here on April 14 died on April 22.

It was confirmed later that the patient was COVID-19 positive, the department said.

The 70-year-old woman who was admitted to the government hospital in Madurai died early Friday.

The number of those discharged after recovery today witnessed a spike with at least 114 patients being sent home taking the total in the state to 866.

Of the 72 cases, 26 constituted women while the remaining were men, with the youngest being a 11-year-old girl and the oldest a 98-year-old man (both hailing from Chennai).

As many as 13 people were suspected to be primary contacts of the total 72, the bulletin said.

Chennai continued to rank top with 452 positive cases among the districts followed by Coimbatore 141, Tiruppur 110.

Madurai and Salem recorded 56 and 30 cases, respectively.

Incidentally, the government announced that these five districts would undergo complete lockdown till April 29 as part of measures to control the spread of virus.

The government has, hence, decided to tighten curbs under the Disaster Management Act, 2005 in select urban regions based on expert opinion, Chief Minister K Palaniswami said in a statement.

"The lockdown will be fully implemented in the corporation areas of Chennai, Coimbatore and Madurai from 6 am on April 26 till 9 pm on April 29," Palaniswami said adding Salem and Tirupur corporation zones will see similar complete lockdown between Sunday 6 am and Tuesday (April 28) 9 pm.

In all other districts of Tamil Nadu, the existing curbs will continue to be in force, Palaniswami said and appealed to the people to fully cooperate to prevent the spread of COVID-19.