Stepping up the Vigil

Unlock 1.0 could be grim for Tamil Nadu, a state that witnessed a near ten-fold jump in Covid cases last month—from 2,323 in April to 22,333 on May 31. With 145 deaths reported through May, even the mortality rate surged to five times that of the earlier period. The only consolation perhaps is that at 0.7 per cent, Tamil Nadu’s mortality rate is well below the national average of 2.8 per cent and of other large states such as Maharashtra and Gujarat.

The worry now is the continuing spread of Covid in northern Chennai and its contiguous districts, which are densely populated and house much of the state’s industries. More than half the