Tamil Nadu CM Stalin orders stringent action against Remdesivir hoarders under Goondas Act

Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin on Saturday categorically stated that persons hoarding Remdesivir drug will be detained under the Goondas Act as the state battles the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. The newly-elected CM's orders to the police comes in the wake of the arrest of a number of persons for allegedly selling Remdesivir vials in the black market at inflated prices amid a surge in demand for life-saving oxygen. CM Stalin noted that similar complaints had surfaced regarding the sale of oxygen cylinders at inflated rates and warned against such activities. 

Tamil Nadu CM cracks whip on Remdesivir hoarders

"I have directed to the police department to take stringent action under the Goondas Act against those who hoard Remdesivir and sell oxygen cylinders at an inflated price," the CM Stalin said. 

Tamil Nadu CM K Stalin inspected a Unified Command Centre, which handles a number of matters related to Covid-19 management, and attended to a phone call from a person seeking a hospital bed, the government said. The UCC operates round the clock and Stalin reviewed the various activities including oxygen management for private hospitals and arranging beds for covid patients in government and private medical facilities, a Friday night press release said. During his review of the facility, the CM attended a phone call from a city-based person seeking a hospital bed and directed authorities to provide her with the same at the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital. CM Stalin directed officials to constantly monitor the beds' availability across Tamil Nadu from the city-based UCC and offer due assistance to calls received here, it added.

Tamil Nadu's COVID situation

Tamil Nadu recorded 31,892 new COVID-19 cases on Friday, including seven returnees from various destinations, pushing the caseload to 15,31,377 while 288 deaths in the last 24 hours took the toll to 17,056. According to a bulletin, 20,037 people were discharged today, taking the tally to 13,18,982, leaving 1,95,339 active infections. With the pandemic raging in the southern state, Tamil Nadu for the first time went past the grim 10,000-mark on April 18, 20,000 on May 2 and 30,000 on May 12.

The state capital accounted for 6,538 new infections, totalling 4,25,603 till date. The metropolis leads also in the number of fatalities at 5,621. The number of samples tested today were 1,60,042, pushing the cumulative number of specimens examined so far to 2,47,85,458. Besides Chennai, Chengalpet added 2,225 cases, Coimbatore 3,197, Kanyakumari 1,025, Madurai 1,250, Thiruvallur 1,410, Tiruchirappalli 1,224 while the remaining districts clocked new infections in triple digits.