TN This Week: Infections Among Pregnant Women Increase, Sanitary Workers Hold Protest, AIADMK Turns to Poll Strategist

Tamil Nadu continues to reel under the COVID-19 pandemic and even as the increasing spread in Chennai strongly signals community transmission, the government continues to downplay the same. The number of pregnant women contracting the infection is also increasing while a controversy has erupted over the number of tests conducted by the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC).NewsClick brings a round-up of the happenings in the state this week.

COVID-19: 54,449 CASES IN THE STATE

The number of cases in the state increased to 54,449 with an addition of 13,751 more casesthis week. The GCC tally also rose by 9,046 cases in the one week period to 38,327 cases. The infection from Chennai is contributing to the tally of many districts as people continue to travel back to their hometowns at the wake of increasing spread. The death toll also rose to 666 till June 19, with an addition of 299 deaths in the week. The number of testing has increased in the state, with more than 25,000 samples tested on three consecutive days.

But, a new controversy over the number of testing done in the GCC has erupted. The commissioner of the GCC has claimed that about 2.1 lakh tests have been conducted in Chennai, while the Health Department stated that only 1,65,509 tests have been done so far. The political parties and civil society organisations have sought an explanation over the mismatch in numbers. The discrepancy in the number of deaths reported by GCC and the Health Department is yet to be sorted out.

The four districts, Chennai, Chengalpettu, Thiruvallur and Kancheepuram, have been put under a lockdown for 12 days from June 19 as they have reported the maximum cases in the state. The lack of planning continues as the sudden announcement on the closure of meat shops have put the retailers and consumers into trouble.

The protocols followed in removing the dead bodies from hospitals have come in for criticism as a photograph of a covered body lying near a patient under treatment went viral in the social media. The experts have demanded speedy action on such instances to avoid mental trauma to the other patients.

Read More: COVID-19 in TN: Lockdown in 4 Districts Including Chennai Begins, Minister Contracts Infection Signalling Lapses in Preventive Measures

MORE PREGNANT WOMEN TEST POSITIVE

The number of pregnant women testing positive is on an increase in Chennai. The two important government maternity hospitals have reported 523 cases so far. The Institute of Obstetrics and Gynaecology & Government Hospital for Women and Children, Egmore, has recorded 294 cases while the Kasturba Gandhi Hospital for Women and Children recorded 229. Of the total cases, both hospitals have discharged 252 and 187 pregnant women, respectively, so far.

Around 10% of the delivered babies tested positive, while remaining are asymptomatic. Most of the tests were positive on the second or third day of the birth. The doctors of the hospitals have informed of the pattern of transmission from pregnant women.

SANITARY WORKERS PROTEST

The sanitary workers of the GCC held a protest on June 18 on the reported hiding of the death of a worker and his sibling. The workers affiliated to the Chennai Corporation Red Flag Union complained of being over-worked all through the lockdown period. The union demanded that a maximum of 50% workers must be involved in works as like the other government departments.

Even as the government and public continue to praise their services, the workers complain of large scale neglect. They also demanded the government to pay the compensation announced for frontline workers dying of the viral infection. Many instances of non-payment of wages, lack of protective gears and transportation facilities to the workers have been raised.

ONLINE NEET COACHING BEGINS

The medical aspirants from rural parts of the state faced severe difficulty in attending the online classes for the National Eligibility Cum Entrance Examination (NEET). A total of 9,000 students have registered themselves for the crash course, made available for free by the school education department in association with a private firm.

Many of the students ran out of their mobile data while attending the classes, as per reports. The online classes are a distant dream of the rural students, most of whom are deprived of fast internet connection and some are without smartphones.

The number of aspirants for medical admission have come down in the state following the introduction of NEET. The government of Tamil Nadu has promulgated an ordinance for 7.5% reservation for government schools students in medical admissions, while it claimed to work towards getting exemption for students of Tamil Nadu in medical admissions.

ORDER ON NAME CHANGES WITHDRAWN

The government of Tamil Nadu withdrew a government order (GO) to change the English spellings of 1,018 cities and towns in the state. The change of spellings were effected to reflect the exact Tamil pronunciation. But, a number of anomalies on the new names forced the government to withdraw the order within a week. The government has also announced that a new order will be issued shortly after looking into the proposals made by Tamil scholars.

An earlier order on the usage of unicode fonts in GOs is not being followed in most of the departments, including the order effecting the change of names. Interestingly, the GO on withdrawing the earlier order used a Unicode font.

The demand of changing the name of villages with caste references still prevails across the state. The government has shown little interest in looking into the long pending demand to change the caste identities of the villages. The government has also invited criticism for publishing the GO on name change even as the COVID-19 prevention activities are lagging.

‘COGNIZANT FORCING EMPLOYEES TO RESIGN’

The New Democratic Labour Front (NDLF), an IT employees union has accused the US-based MNC Cognizant of forcing their employees to resign at the wake of the pandemic. In a press release, the organisation has alleged that Cognizant is benching employees at Chennai offices. The NDLF also alleged that the employees were forced to resign after 41 days.

The union accused the company of meticulously planning the ouster of the employees. Initially the employee is placed on the bench and is given 35 days to upgrade themselves with a six days extension. If the employee couldn't land up in a project, the company is forcing them to resign. The organisation has demanded to stop any retrenchment taking advantage of the pandemic.

AIADMK ROPES IN POLL STRATEGIST

The All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) has roped in poll strategist Sunil Kinugolu. With one year left in office, the government and the party is desperately looking for face-saving measures, after its pandemic control efforts have failed. Sunil had worked with the Bharatiya Janata Party in elections.The strategist was also associated with DMK till the end of November 2019.