1. Four More Journalists Test Positive for COVID-19 in Chennai
Four more journalists in Chennai have tested positive for COVID-19 on Wednesday. Three of them work from the same Tamil TV news channel while the fourth is from another channel, a senior health department official confirmed.
This comes a day after 26 staff members of a TV news channel tested positive for the virus. Many journalists in the city volunteered for the testing in the last two days after a Tamil newspaper reporter and a TV channel journalist tested positive on Sunday. "Of the total 400 samples collected in the hospital (including non-journalists) the results of five have turned positive and the remaining are negative. Four of them belong to journalists," the official added.
(Source: The New Indian Express)
2. Chennai GH Doctors Upset, Threaten to Abstain From COVID-19 Work
Resident doctors of Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital (RGGGH) Chennai and Madras Medical College (MMC) in a letter addressed to the Dean of RGGGH have announced that they will be refrain from attending to novel coronavirus related duties beginning 3 pm on Wednesday, 22 April until their requests to ensure their safety are met.
In their letter, the doctors have claimed that due to “poor quarantine arrangements” many of their resident doctors have contracted COVID-19 exposing more doctors in the state could have contracted the infection.
(Source: The News Minute)
3. Solatium to Relatives of Deceased Front Line Staff Hiked to Rs 50 Lakh
Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami on Wednesday announced that the solatium to families of front line workers who died fighting COVID-19 would be increased from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 50 lakh.
In a statement, Palaniswami said that a family member of the deceased would be given a government job based on qualifications. “The solatium is applicable to the health, police and local administration departments, whose workers are involved in the fight against COVID-19, on a war footing,” he added. The centre had announced a medical insurance cover of Rs 50 lakh for health workers battling the disease, Palaniswami noted.
(Source: The Hindu)
4. Wife Pleads Decent Burial for Chennai Doctor Who Died of COVID-19
Breaking down, Anandi Simon, wife of Dr Simon, who passed away on Sunday, has appealed to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami to give her husband a decent burial after the authorities had to hurriedly finish the job due to opposition from residents in the locality.
He had contracted coronavirus from the patients he was caring for.“He had told me, ‘If I don’t come home alive, then you bury me following our customs,” said Anandi Simon, wife of Dr Simon. She appealed that the sealed coffin box in which he was laid to rest, be brought to Kilpauk cemetery as per his last wish.
Read the full story here.
5. ‘Normalcy in Cinema Industry Only by September’
The Tamil film industry is expected to return to a normal state of affairs only by September. Film Employees Federation of South India (FEFSI) president R K Selvamani on Wednesday said, “Though we can start shooting in some limited way from June, complete normalcy in operations will return only in September.”
A decision on returning to work will only be taken after the official removal of lockdown, he said and added that the 25,000-strong union will need to take stock after the lockdown is fully removed. “We need a week to take stock after lockdown is completely removed. Cinema is not an essential, so even if the lockdown is partially removed, cinema will be one of the last industries to start working. Rapid testing needs to be started. I doubt if we can start working in May,” he said.
(Source: The Hindu)
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