Salem: Tamil Nadu has suffered an estimated £3.5 billion GST revenue loss during the ongoing Covid-19 lockdown and various austerity measures have been taken to handle the situation, Chief Minister K Palaniswami said. However, development schemes won't be affected from these steps, he said.
During the last week of March, besides April and May, due to the lockdown, the state has suffered an estimated £3.5 billion GST revenue loss, he said quoting the Finance Department. “Various austerity measures have been taken to handle the situation but they won''t affect development schemes as they ensure employment generation," he told reporters, without elaborating.
The Tamil Nadu government had imposed the lockdown on March 24, a day ahead of the national lockdown, to curb the spread of coronavirus in the state. To a question, he said the state will see what announcement the Centre makes on the next course of lockdown as the ongoing fourth phase will end on May 31.
The government would also consult a panel of medical experts, he said, while pointing out at the various relaxations already provided, including in the farming and industrial sectors to resume activity. To another question, he said there was no community transmission of the pandemic and asserted that the government was taking the right steps to prevent the contagion.
Covid case count crosses 15,000-mark
With the death of five more people, the number of Covid -19 toll in the state reached 103 as the state which is grappling with the contagion witnessing 759 fresh cases, the health department has said. Among the fresh cases, 49 of them arrived to the state from various places, the health bulletin said. The total number of cases in the state now reached 15,512.
Of those infected were two one-month-old babies from Kancheepuram and Chennai, the bulletin added. Twentyone employees of various companies were among the latest cases, health department sources said. As many as 363 people have been discharged taking the total to 7,491, the bulletin said. Chennai leads in the maximum number of positive cases with 624 being added to the list on Saturday totalling 9,989 till date.
With the latest cases, the cumulative Covid-19 positive tally also crossed the 15,000-mark to touch 15,512. Saturday also marks the fourth straight day the state has reported over 700 cases. On May 22, it had recorded 786; on May 21, it saw 776 cases; on May 20, it witnessed 743. Five passengers who had returned from the Philippines and seven have tested positive in the exit test conducted after seven days of arrival, albeit having tested negative earlier. On the domestic front, 24 from Maharashtra, three from West Bengal, one passenger each from New Delhi, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh have tested positive for the virus.
