INS Jalashwa brings home 685 stranded Indians from Sri Lanka

Under the Operation Samudra Setu, the Indian Navy’s amphibious transport vessel INS Jalashwa brought home 685 stranded passengers yesterday. It reached the VOC Port at Tuticorin in Tamil Nadu after an overnight journey from Colombo. It is the first ship to reach Indian shores from Srilanka with the evacuees under the Samudra Setu mission. The embarkation has been facilitated by the Indian mission in Colombo.

 

The Indian Navy says it has so far brought home 2173 stranded Indians including 1488 from the Maldives and 685 from Srilanka. The vessel INS Jalashwa is continuing the humanitarian mission and is set to bring back 700 more people from the Maldives by the end of this week.

 

Meanwhile, the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswamy briefed the state Governor Bunwarilal Purohit at the Raj Bhavan in Chennai last evening. He also reviewed the ground situation in the state capital due to COVID-19.

 

The Tamil Nadu chief minister Edappadi Palaniswamy



says the state has sufficient RT-PCR kits with its hospitals to test Covid-19 samples. He reviewed the pandemic situation in Chennai with officials at the city corporation headquarters Rippon Building yesterday.

 

Later, he told reporters, over 2.92 lakh kits are in store now and the stock is being replenished regularly. He also said, generally, only five percent of the Covid-19 patients require ventilator support during treatment as others turn negative without any need for it. He added there are 17,500 beds for accommodating Covid-19 positive people in Chennai which is 75-thousand in the whole state.

 

Meanwhile, the state government is considering distribution of free masks for all families having ration cards, two pieces for every person. It is estimated that 14-crore masks would be required to distribute to the seven crore individuals belonging to 2.1 crore families who are enrolled in the public distribution system.