At a railway station in Chennai. (Express)Tamil Nadu Chennai Coronavirus News September 25, 26 Highlights: Tamil Nadu recorded 5,679 positive cases of COVID-19 Friday, bringing the state’s tally to 5,69,370. Among these, Chennai reported 1,193 positive cases, bringing the city’s total to 1,60,926.
Tamil Nadu recorded 72 deaths on Friday, putting the state toll at 9148. 68 of them had succumbed due to comorbidities.
As of Friday, the number of active COVID-19 cases in Tamil Nadu is 46,386. Till date, 3,43,470 males, 2,25,870 females and 30 transgenders have tested positive for the virus in the state.
Meanwhile, condolences began pouring in as news of SP Balasubrahmanyam’s demise in Chennai broke out on Friday. Singer-actor SP Balasubrahmanyam passed away on Friday following coronavirus complications. He was 74.
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SPB’s son SP Charan told reporters at MGM Healthcare in Chennai, “SPB belongs to everyone. He will live on in his songs. My dad passed away at 1.04 pm.”
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SPB’s son, S P Charan, had been frequently releasing information about him.
A total of 14,47,798 people have recovered across all 15 zones in Chennai till date. Recoveries have crossed 16,000 in two zones. Kodambakkam (Zone 10) leads the tally with 16,659 recoveries and Anna Nagar (Zone 8) comes second with 16,540 recoveries.
Here are the recoveries in the top 10 zones in Chennai:
Veteran singer-actor SP Balasubrahmanyam passed away Friday, leaving fans all over the world heartbroken. As tributes poured in from all quarters and many shared personal interactions with the legend, one story stood out — that of a little boy who was witness to an impromptu musical session during a train journey in the early 70s.
Twitter user K Vaitheeswaran (@vaitheek) shared a story from his childhood when he happened to meet Balasubrahmanyam during Diwali vacation while travelling to Chennai from Howrah on a train. Sharing that the artiste impressed his family with his music, Vaitheeswaran wrote how they didn’t realise their “privilege at that time”.
“After settling down in his berth, the young man introduced himself as Balu, a playback singer. He was going to Madras for recording a Tamil song next day. We invited him to share our lunch and he readily agreed. The fun started after lunch,” he wrote in a tweet recounting the experience, saying the signer was in the same coach as them.
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A total of 3128 people have succumbed to COVID-19 across all 15 zones of Chennai till date.
Here are the deaths in the top 10 zones in Chennai:
Veteran singer, actor and music composer S P Balasubrahmanyam, hailed as "singing moon" and "music cloud" by his millions of fans was laid to rest at his farm house in Thamaraipakkam on Saturday with a 24-gun salute by the Tamil Nadu police.
After the singer's son S P Charan performed the funeral rites amid Vedic chants by priests, 24 police personnel gave a gun salute and the body was later lowered into a deep pit and buried. With policemen marching along, the body was brought on a bier to the designated burial spot from an enclosure earmarked for people to pay homage and perform rituals.
The farm house at Tamaraipakkam in nearby Tiruvallur district teemed with his fans, well-wishers and celebrities for the funeral and about 500 police personnel were deployed to regulate crowd.
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Sripathi Panditaradhyula Balasubrahmanyam, the playback singer, composer, actor, producer and musician whose evocative voice and the earnestness in it could elevate a simple piece of music to sublimity, died on Friday of cardio-respiratory arrest at MGM Healthcare in Chennai. He was 74.
Outside the hospital, an emotional S P Charan, his son, told reporters, “SPB belongs to everyone. He will live on in his songs”.
Widely believed to be one of the finest male playback singers, Balasubrahmanyam had a 50-year career and transcended language barriers by singing in 16 of them including Hindi, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and Tamil. He found success in the Hindi film industry. In South Indian film music there was more — a cult status and genuine affection from people. From MG Ramachandran (MGR), Sivaji Ganesan, Gemini Ganesan to Kamal Haasan, Rajinikanth, Mohan and a slew of actors in the present day, Balasubrahmanyam’s voice was often the fixture for all of them. That he held the Guinness World Record for singing the highest number of songs — 40,000 of them — was just another feather in his cap. In all of them, that tender, velvety voice triumphantly stood out as one of a kind — unpretentious yet grand. And that’s where the magic was.
Balasubrahmanyam was also a well-known dubbing artiste and dubbed for Haasan, Rajinikanth, Salman Khan, Anil Kapoor among others for Telugu versions of their films. He also acted in a few films.
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Six more people, including an 89-year old woman, succumbed to COVID-19 in Puducherry on Saturday taking the toll to 500. Director of Health and Family Welfare S Mohan Kumar said in a release that 555 fresh cases were reported after examination of 5,032 samples during last 24 hours.
He said 424 patients recovered and were discharged during last 24 hours from hospitals. The fatality rate was 1.92 percent while the recovery rate was 77.62 percent here. Kumar said 1.66 lakh samples have been tested so far and it was found that 1.37 lakh out of them were negative and results of examination of remaining samples was awaited.
The addition of 555 new cases took the overall tally to 26,032 (after transfer of 12 cases to Tamil Nadu). While there were 5,327 active cases, the number of patients who recovered and were discharged were 20,205 while the fatalities were 500.
The six people who died of infection were in the age group ranging between 47 and 89 years and most of them had co-morbidities such as diabetes.
Applications are open for the Tamil Nadu Common Admissions (TANCA) 2020. Students who have appeared in TANCET 2020 or GATE 2018, 19 or 20 can apply for TANCA at tanca.annauniv.edu. The last date to apply is 5:30 pm September 30. Through TANCA online counselling, candidates will be eligible to seek admission to ME, MTech, MArch, MPlan degree programmes.
Through TANCA, students can apply for admission to several universities including regional campuses, departments, and college affiliated to Anna University, Annamalai University, government and govt-aided engineering colleges, and self-financed engineering colleges.
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Sripathi Panditaradhyula Balasubrahmanyam, legendary playback singer, composer, actor, producer and musician whose evocative voice and the earnestness in it could elevate a simple piece of music to absolute sublimity, died on Friday afternoon following a cardio-respiratory arrest at MGM Healthcare in Chennai. He was 74.
Widely held as one of the finest male playback singers with a 50-year-long career, SP Balasubrahmanyam, transcended language barriers by singing in 16 of them including Hindi, Telugu, Kannada and Tamil among others. He found success in the Hindi film industry and a lot more than just success in South Indian film music — a cult status as an artiste who received genuine affection from people. From MG Ramachandran, Sivaji Ganesan, Gemini Ganesan to Kamal Hassan, Mohan and a slew of actors in the present day, Balasubrahmanyam’s voice was a fixture for all of them. That he held the Guinness Book of World Record for singing the highest number of songs ever (40,000 songs) was just another feather in his cap. In all of them, that tender, velvety voice triumphantly stood out as one of a kind — it was unpretentious and yet grand. And that’s where the magic nestled itself.
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Chennai has 10,000 active cases across all 15 zones of the city as of Saturday. With 1160 cases, Anna Nagar (Zone 8) has the most active cases while Manali (Zone 2) has the least with 152 cases.
Here are the active cases in the top 10 zones in Chennai:
There was something instantly likeable about SP Balasubrahmanyam. He always seemed rooted, charming and full of warmth and life. It looks like those are the side-effects of being a heavily gifted musician. It won’t be an exaggeration to say that for about 50 years, SPB has remained an integral part of every household down south. And his massive volume of songs will continue to mesmerize generations to come.
Here is a list of iconic songs that made our childhood so memorable and rewarding. Mind it, this list is just a drop from the ocean of songs that SPB has left behind.
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Reacting to the Gujarat education department’s decision of closing down the only Tamil medium secondary and higher secondary school in Ahmedabad run by a private trust in the wake of not meeting the criteria of minimum number of students, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Thiru Edappadi K Palaniswami wrote to his Gujarat counterpart Vijay Rupani asking him to intervene in the issue.
Palaniswami in a letter addressed to Rupani even offered to undertake the entire expenditure for the continuance of the Tamil medium school in Ahmedabad’s Maninagar area.
“I am distressed to know that the school which had been imparting education in Tamil medium to mainly migrant labourers at Ahmedabad in Gujarat has been closed suddenly, citing low attendance. These Tamil children are now left without any choice to continue their education,” the letter stated.
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The Tamil film industry is slowly getting back on its feet after the coronavirus-induced lockdown. Many big-budget movies, including Superstar Rajinikanth’s Annaatthe, halted their shooting due to the pandemic.
Following multiple requests from senior directors and producers, the Tamil Nadu government gave its nod for the resumption of film and television shooting with certain restrictions, which included that only 75 people can be on the set and the entire crew should follow all the precautionary measures listed by the government.
Speaking to indianexpress.com, film producer and distributor G Dhananjayan said the filmmakers are completing their pending portions quickly so that they can sell their finished product through other mediums if not through theaters.
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The Southern Railway announced on Friday that bookings for daily special trains between Chennai and Thiruvananthapuram and Chennai and Mangaluru have commenced.
The Southern Railway on Thursday announced that they will be operating two daily specials to Thiruvananthapuram and Mangaluru from Chennai, days after the resumption of intra-state trains in Tamil Nadu. Following the Railway Board's approval, it announced running one superfast special each to the two cities from September 27. The return services from Thiruvananthapuram and Mangaluru will start from September 28.
Train No. 02623/02624 Dr. MGR Chennai Central Thiruvananthapuram-Dr. MGR Chennai Central Superfast Special (Daily) will depart from Chennai at 19.45 hrs to reach the Kerala capital at 11.45 hrs the next day. In the return direction, Train No. 02624 will depart from Thiruvananthapuram Central at 15.00 hrs and reach Dr. MGR Chennai Central at 07.40 hrs the next day, it said.
Similarly, Mangalore-bound Train No. 02601 will leave from Dr. MGR Chennai Central at 20.10 hrs and reach Mangalore Central at 12.10 hrs the next day. In the return direction, Train No. 02602 will leave from Mangalore Central at 13.30 hrs to reach Dr. MGR Chennai Central at 05.35 hrs the next day, the release added.
A total of 126 flights will be operated between Chennai and major cities today, with 63 arrivals and 63 departures scheduled at the Chennai International Airport.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami announced on Friday that legendary singer S P Balasubrahmanyam, who succumbed to COVID-19 will be laid to rest with police honours today.
Singer-actor SP Balasubrahmanyam passed away on Friday following coronavirus complications. He was 74. SPB’s son SP Charan told reporters at MGM Healthcare in Chennai, “SPB belongs to everyone. He will live on in his songs. My dad passed away at 1.04 pm.”
A statement from the hospital read, “Thiru S P Balasubrahmanyam had been admitted at MGM Healthcare on August 5th and commenced on life support measures since August 14th for severe COVID-19 pneumonia. He continued to be closely monitored by our multidisciplinary team in the critical care unit. He tested negative for COVID-19 on September 4th. In a further setback this morning, despite maximal life support measures and the best efforts of the clinical team, his condition deteriorated further and he suffered a cardio-respiratory arrest. With profound grief, we regret to inform that he has passed away on September 25th at 13:04 Hours. We express our heartfelt condolences to his family, friends, well-wishers and admirers at their loss during this time of anguish and sorrow.”
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Tamil Nadu recorded 5,679 positive cases of COVID-19 Friday, bringing the state’s tally to 5,69,370. Among these, Chennai reported 1,193 positive cases, bringing the city’s total to 1,60,926.
Besides Chennai, 277 cases were reported in Chengalpattu, 165 in Kancheepuram, 229 in Thiruvallur, 28 in Ariyalur, 661 in Coimbatore, 235 in Cuddalore, 148 in Dharmapuri, 58 in Dindigul, 151 in Erode, 57 in Kallakurichi, 86 in Kanyakumari, 49 in Karur, 104 in Krishnagiri, 71 in Madurai, 35 in Nagapattinam, 115 in Namakkal, 137 in Nilgiris, 17 in Perambalur, 66 in Pudukottai, 17 in Ramanathapuram, 65 in Ranipet, 297 in Salem, 46 in Sivagangai, 53 in Tenkasi, 150 in Thanjavur, 66 in Theni, 67 in Thirupathur, 173 in Thiruvannamalai, 139 in Thiruvarur, 46 in Thoothukudi, 77 in Tirunelveli, 158 in Tiruppur, 107 in Trichy, 125 in Vellore, 162 in Villupuram and 42 in Virudhunagar districts.
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Tamil Nadu recorded 5,679 positive cases of COVID-19 Friday, bringing the state’s tally to 5,69,370. Among these, Chennai reported 1,193 positive cases, bringing the city’s total to 1,60,926.
Tamil Nadu recorded 72 deaths on Friday, putting the state toll at 9148. 68 of them had succumbed due to comorbidities. The state discharged 5,626 patients following treatment yesterday, putting the total number of recoveries at 5,13,836.
As of Friday, the number of active COVID-19 cases in Tamil Nadu is 46,386. Till date, 3,43,470 males, 2,25,870 females and 30 transgenders have tested positive for the virus in the state.
According to a bulletin released by the Health and Family Welfare Department of Tamil Nadu, 69,10,521 samples from the state have been sent for testing till date, with 94,877 samples having been sent Friday.
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Good morning!
Welcome to the live blog from Chennai where we bring to you the latest updates on COVID-19, lockdown in Tamil Nadu, S P Balasubrahmanyam's demise and more across Chennai and Tamil Nadu. Follow the blog to stay up to date with the state in real time.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palanisami Friday mourned the death of legendary singer SP Balasubhramanyam saying his demise is a great loss to the film and music fraternity. 'Puratchithalaivar MGR was very particular that only SPB should sing the 'Aayiram Nilave Vaa' song in his film, he was impressed with his skills that much. A multi-faceted personality, SP Balasubhramanyam's only competitor was him. I offer my deep condolences to his family and friends,' Edappadi said.
Applications are open for the Tamil Nadu Common Admissions (TANCA) 2020. Students who have appeared in TANCET 2020 or GATE 2018, 19 or 20 can apply for TANCA at tanca.annauniv.edu. The last date to apply is 5:30 pm September 30. Through TANCA online counselling, candidates will be eligible to seek admission to ME, MTech, MArch, MPlan degree programmes.
Through TANCA, students can apply for admission to several universities including regional campuses, departments, and college affiliated to Anna University, Annamalai University, government and govt-aided engineering colleges, and self-financed engineering colleges.
The merit list will be prepared based on the percentile score obtained in TANCET 2020. In case of a tie, candidate having a higher average percentage of marks in the qualifying degree examination will be given a higher rank, as per rules.
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As India’s coronavirus numbers continue to grow, some promising signals over the last few days offer a glimmer of hope, even if temporarily.
Wednesday was the sixth consecutive day when the number of people recovering from the disease, as reported in government data, exceeded the detection of new infections. Never before has this happened for more than a day — and those occasions were more in the nature of anomalies in the reporting of data, rather than the representation of a trend.
In an epidemic such as this, a clear trend of recoveries exceeding new infections is keenly awaited, because it can be read as signalling a slowing spread. These are still very early days — the trend has to hold for several weeks to convey something more meaningful — but the fact that it has begun brings hope.
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Shripathi Panditaradhyula Balasubrahmanyam (SPB), who passed away on Friday, was an absolute legend. One of the reasons he was revered by fans across age groups is the fact that he made an unparalleled contribution to the musical landscape without even receiving a formal education in music. By his own admission, even after nearly six decades as an award-winning playback singer, he could not write a musical notation. And yet, there was no match for the might of his singing prowess. He was a natural phenomenon.
Besides singing in mainstream films across 16 languages including Tamil, Telugu Kannada, Malayalam, Hindi (the man has sung over 40,000 songs and that’s a record in itself), he also appeared in a slew of films in significant roles.
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The Tamil film industry is slowly getting back on its feet after the coronavirus-induced lockdown. Many big-budget movies, including Superstar Rajinikanth’s Annaatthe, halted their shooting due to the pandemic.
Following multiple requests from senior directors and producers, the Tamil Nadu government gave its nod for the resumption of film and television shooting with certain restrictions, which included that only 75 people can be on the set and the entire crew should follow all the precautionary measures listed by the government.
Speaking to indianexpress.com, film producer and distributor G Dhananjayan said the filmmakers are completing their pending portions quickly so that they can sell their finished product through other mediums if not through theaters.
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Prime Minister Narendra Modi Friday extended his condolences on the death of Singer-actor SP Balasubrahmanyam, saying that with his demise “our cultural world is a lot poorer”.
“A household name across India, his melodious voice and music enthralled audiences for decades. In this hour of grief, my thoughts are with his family and admirers. Om Shanti,” the prime minister said in a tweet.
“A household name across India, his melodious voice and music enthralled audiences for decades. In this hour of grief, my thoughts are with his family and admirers. Om Shanti,” the prime minister said in a tweet.
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Singer-actor SP Balasubrahmanyam passed away on Friday following coronavirus complications. He was 74. SPB’s son SP Charan told reporters at MGM Healthcare in Chennai, “SPB belongs to everyone. He will live on in his songs. My dad passed away at 1.04 pm.”
SPB was tested positive for Covid-19 in the first week of August. He was later shifted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of MGM Healthcare after his condition deteriorated. He remained on ventilator and ECMO (Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation) support till his last breath.
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Actor-turned-politician Rajinikanth condoled singer S P Balasubrahmanyam's demise on Friday. In a video posted on Twitter, Rajinikanth said, "Today is a very sad day. SPB left us today after fighting until the last minute. His death comes as a surprise and is very saddening. There is no one in India who is not a fan of SPB's voice and songs. More than his songs, people who knew him loved him for who he is. They loved his humanity and the way he respected and loved everyone irrespective of age."
Comparing SPB to veteran singers such as Mohammed Rafi and Kishore Kumar among others, Rajini said that while they had only sung in a particular language, SPB had the distinction of having sung in multiple languages in India. "Everyone in India admired his singing. Especially in South India, there will be no one who is not a fan of SPB. Even after a 100 years, no one will forget his rich voice but when I realise that the custodian of that rich voice is no more, it is heartbreaking", he said.
"I pray for his soul to rest in peace and offer my deepest condolences to his family members", Rajini added.
Tamil Nadu Deputy Chief Minister O.Panneselvam offered his condolences to veteran singer SP Balasubhramanyam. In a statement, he said Balsubrahmanyam holds a Guinness record for having sung more than 40,000 songs. 'We were happy that after we came across the news that he has crossed the critical stage and he will recover soon. But, the tragic news has left the fans devasted. Apart from Tamil, he has sung in more than 15 languages. He has sung for Puratchi Thalaivar MGR, Puratchi Thalaivi Amma. He has millions of fans across the country. Though he has left us, his songs will continue to reverberate in our ears. I offer my condolences to his family," he said.
SP Balasubrahmanyam passed away on Friday, leaving millions of fans and the world of music in great agony.
On August 5, SPB was taken to the hospital after he tested positive for coronavirus. The 74-year-old singing legend sounded very optimistic in the video he made to inform the world about his diagnosis. He assured his fans that he would be out of the hospital in no time as the symptoms were “very mild.” But, his health took a turn for the worse soon, necessitating the doctors to move him into the intensive care unit (ICU) of the MGM Healthcare in Chennai. And he was put on life-support.
During this period, SP Charan kept the worried fans regularly informed about SPB’s health. Earlier this month, Charan even shared that his father had tested negative for COVID-19. However, his lungs still did not heal from the damage caused by the infection. After battling for nearly two months, SPB breathed his last while still under medical care, leaving a huge void in the world of Indian music.
SPB had sung more than 40,000 songs in 16 languages. But, his contribution to music goes beyond his sheer volume of work.
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Indian chess grandmaster and former world chess champion Viswanathan Anand condoled the death of veteran singer S P Balasubrahmanyam.
'Really sad to hear about the passing away of such a great yet simple person. He was my first sponsor!' ' One of the nicest persons I have met. His music gave us such joy' (sic), he tweeted.
DMK MLA TRB Rajaa, son of T R Baalu condoled the death of veteran singer S P Balasubrahmanyam who succumbed to COVID-19 today.
Singer-actor SP Balasubrahmanyam passed away on Friday following coronavirus complications. He was 74. SPB’s son SP Charan confirmed the news of Balasubrahmanyam’s demise to News 18 Tamil.
The singer was admitted to MGM Healthcare in Chennai in the first week of August after testing positive for coronavirus. On September 24, MGM Healthcare released a statement about SPB’s health. The statement mentioned that the singer had been put on ‘maximal life support system’ after his health deteriorated.
In a career spanning over five decades, SPB won six National Film Awards for Best Male Playback Singer and 25 Nandi Awards. The Government of India honoured the singer-actor with Padma Shri in 2001 Padma Bhushan in 2011.
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Tamil Nadu has sought a significant amount of additional funds from the Centre to help to help it tackle the Covid-19 pandemic.
Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to increase the devolution under the Emergency Response and Health Systems Preparedness package to Rs 3,000 crore. The state has received Rs 512 crore so far.
He has also requested an immediate ad hoc grant of Rs 1,000 crore from the National Disaster Response Fund as Tamil Nadu has exhausted the state disaster response mitigation fund.
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The personal assistant of a Tamil Nadu minister was kidnapped by an unidentified gang from his office in Udumalpet, near Coimbatore. He was later abandoned at a nearby place.
According to police, the four kidnappers arrived at minister Udumalai K Radhakrishnan’s office around 11.30 am and forcefully took the PA, Karnan alias Kanagaraj, in a white car.
Tirupur SP Disha Mittal told The Indian Express that a case has been registered and investigation is on. “We are yet to arrest the culprits. He (Kanagaraj) was abandoned later, about 15 kms away from the place where he was kidnapped. He had no injuries. We are trying to ascertain the reason,” Mittal said.
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The changing dynamic of the Covid-19 pandemic in India has seen states revising their quarantine and self-isolation guidelines for travellers from time to time to control the spread of the novel coronavirus. While some states have relaxed quarantine rules for international passengers on short business visits, some have eased guidelines for certain other categories of passengers as well.
In Tamil Nadu, home quarantine is mandatory for 14 days and if the individual develops fever, cough, breathlessness during the quarantine period, they are expected to visit a health facility.
Testing will be done only on symptomatic persons coming from other states or union territories. Those who test positive and are symptomatic will be taken to hospital isolation for treatment. If they are positive and asymptomatic, they will be taken to a Covid care centre.
Those who test negative and are asymptomatic, they will remain in home quarantine for 14 days. If the passenger tests negative and is symptomatic, he/she will be taken to hospital isolation and a decision will be taken based on the assessment by doctors.
Persons visiting Tamil Nadu for business purposes and returning to their origin places within 72 hours of entering the state are exempt from home quarantine norms. All international passengers who are in possession of RT-PCR negative certificate and are asymptomatic will be allowed to proceed for home quarantine for 14 days.
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Singer-actor SP Balasubrahmanyam’s condition has ‘deteriorated’, and he has been put on ‘maximal life support’, read a statement released by Chennai’s MGM Healthcare on Thursday. The statement further said SPB’s condition is ‘extremely critical’.
“Thiru SP Balasubrahmanyam, who had been admitted at MGM Healthcare on August 5, remains on ECMO and other life support measures. His condition in the last 24 hours has deteriorated further, warranting maximal life support and he is extremely critical. The team of experts at MGM Healthcare are closely monitoring his health condition,” the statement read.
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Former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa’s close aide VK Sasikala has written a letter to the Bengaluru Parappana Agrahara prison Superintendent requesting not to entertain any kind of application of the third parties under the Right to Information Act seeking details related to her imprisonment, release date, etc.
In a letter dated September 19, Sasikala said the third parties file those applications for gaining publicity and also due to political vendetta. “The oblique motive of some applicants is to complicate my lawful release at the right time,” the letter read.
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The Southern Railway on Thursday announced that they will be operating two daily specials to Thiruvananthapuram and Mangaluru from Chennai, days after the resumption of intra-state trains in Tamil Nadu. Following the Railway Board's approval, it announced running one superfast special each to the two cities from September 27.
As approved by Railway Board, the fully reserved special trains will be introduced daily, from Chennai from Sunday, a Southern Railway release said. The return services from Thiruvananthapuram and Mangaluru from will start from September 28.
Train No. 02623/02624 Dr. MGR Chennai Central Thiruvananthapuram-Dr. MGR Chennai Central Superfast Special (Daily) will depart from Chennai at 19.45 hrs to reach the Kerala capital at 11.45 hrs the next day. In the return direction, Train No. 02624 will depart from Thiruvananthapuram Central at 15.00 hrs and reach Dr. MGR Chennai Central at 07.40 hrs the next day, it said.
Similarly, Mangalore-bound Train No. 02601 will leave from Dr. MGR Chennai Central at 20.10 hrs and reach Mangalore Central at 12.10 hrs the next day. In the return direction, Train No. 02602 will leave from Mangalore Central at 13.30 hrs to reach Dr. MGR Chennai Central at 05.35 hrs the next day, the release added.
The CBI is carrying out searches at multiple locations in Tamil Nadu in connection with a cash-for-votes case during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, officials said Thursday.
The central agency has taken over the investigation from the state police, they said. The case was probed by Income Tax department and local police, they added.
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Directorate of Medical Education (DME), Tamil Nadu will be releasing the NEET cut-off 2020 of Tamil Nadu. The cut-off for 15 per cent all India quota (AIQ) seats in government colleges will be released by the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
The cut-off for 85 per cent state quota seats in government colleges and 100 per cent seats in private medical/ dental colleges of the state will be declared by DME, Tamil Nadu.
Since the NEET 2020 cut-off for Tamil Nadu will be declared during the counselling process, candidates can meanwhile refer to the previous years’ cut-off to have an idea about their admission chances in MBBS/ BDS courses.
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Effective October 1, students of classes 10 to 12 in Tamil Nadu are permitted to come to their schools on a voluntary basis by following the standard operating procedure (SOP) to prevent the spread of coronavirus, the state government announced Thursday.
The students would be divided into two batches and those placed in the first batch would be allowed to come to school on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, a state government order said. Similarly, the second batch would come to school on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Schools located in containment zones would not be permitted to function and only those located outside hotspots could allow students.
The government has made it clear that assemblies, sports or other events that can lead to overcrowding must be strictly avoided, the order said. Thermal screening, wearing face masks, social distancing and disinfecting the school premises must be followed. Instead of biometric attendance for teachers or staff, alternative arrangements for contactless attendance should be made, the order said.
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A total of 123 flights will be operated between Chennai and major cities, with 61 arrivals and 62 departures scheduled at the Chennai International Airport today.
Tangedco has announced a powercut in parts of Chennai today from 9 am to 2 pm to carry out maintenance work.
Here are the affected areas:
To check the spread of COVID-19 in Coimbatore, the Tamil Nadu government has decided to launch a door-to-door testing programme for the kin of patients tested positive for the virus, Minister for Municipal Administration, Rural Development, and Implementation of Special Programme, S P Velumani said.
The minister said that 20 mobile testing vehicles will be used for this campaign. The vehicles will have a lab technician, a nurse and a health worker, he said during a review meeting of COVID-19 situation with senior officials of various departments in Coimbatore.
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Tamil Nadu Thursday reported 5,692 fresh COVID-19 cases, taking the overall tally to 5,63,691. With 66 deaths reported in the past 24 hours, the death toll reached 9,076. A total of 90,607 samples tests were done by RT-PCR today.
On Thursday, as many as 5,470 persons were discharged, taking the number of recovered patients to 5,08,210. There are 46,405 active cases in the state.
In Chennai, 1,089 cases were reported which pushed the city’s overall tally to 1,59,683. Other neighbouring districts of Thiruvallur (265), Chengalpattu (299) and Kancheepuram (196) reported 760 COVID-19 cases. Coimbatore, with 642 cases, recorded the second-highest tally of cases in the state today. In Salem (311) and Cuddalore (250) cases continue to surge.
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Good morning!
Welcome to the live blog from Chennai where we bring to you the latest updates on COVID-19, lockdown in Tamil Nadu and more across Chennai and Tamil Nadu. Follow the blog to stay up to date with the state in real time.