Tamil Nadu reports five new coronavirus cases; tally goes up to 23

Chennai: Five more persons, including four Indonesian nationals, tested positive for Covid-19 (coronavirus) on Wednesday in Tamil Nadu, taking the total number of infected people in the state to 23. The state had had reported 18 coronavirus-positive cases till Tuesday,

"Five new cases of COVID19 in TN. 4 Indonesian nationals and their travel guide from Chennai test positive... ", State Health and Family Welfare Minister C Vijaya Baskar said on Twitter.

He said the newly-tested positive patients were in quarantine since March 22 at the Salem Medical College.

Giving statistics, he said 2,09,276 passengers were screened so far and 15,492 were under follow up.

As many as 211 people were admitted in various hospitals while samples of 890 people were tested of which 757 turned negative while 23 positive for COVID-19.

Tamil Nadu reported its first coronavirus case on March 7 when a 45-year old engineer from Kancheepuram who has now been discharged after treatment at the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital in Chennai, tested positive.

Late on Tuesday night, Vijaya Baskar warned of strict action including blocking of passports against those individuals who have recently returned from abroad and continue to go out instead of adopting self-quarantine measures.

Before Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a nationwide lockdown for three weeks in a televised address on Tuesday, the Tamil Nadu government had announced a lockdown for March 24-31 as part of its efforts to control the spread of coronavirus.

Tamil Nadu had also invoked CrPC Section 144 which prohibits the assembly of more than five persons in public places to implement the lockdown.