Urgent steps needed to increase beds: Stalin

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Chief Minister M.K. Stalin said on Friday that his government had to take measures on a war footing to increase the number of beds and check the spread of COVID-19. He asked officials to ramp up bed capacity and the availability of oxygen and medicines. At his first meeting with the Collectors, police officers and medical experts, he said experts projected that cases in the State, which now averaged 25,000 a day, were likely to go up in the next couple of weeks. “Only if the spread of the virus is contained, will we be able to reduce the number of deaths and the load on medical infrastructure. Our government has come to power at a time when we are facing severe challenges, and we have a responsibility to protect the lives and livelihood of the Tamil people,” he said. The Chief Minister said he had a responsibility to support the officials fighting the pandemic. Doctors, nurses and other medical professionals were working hard to save lives. “Chennai city, Kancheepuram, Tiruvallur, Chengalpattu, Coimbatore, Madurai and Tirunelveli are seeing a high case load. This has to be controlled; only then will the number of deaths come down. Officials working in these areas must work diligently and ramp up medical infrastructure,” he said.