The Tamil Nadu government stepped up vigil amidst a sudden surge in Coronavirus cases in some parts of the world and on Saturday 37 passengers who arrived at the international airport here were screened for COVID-19.

None among those screened had symptoms for Coronavirus, said State Health Minister Ma Subramanian.

The passengers had arrived from Kuala Lumpur, Dubai, Colombo and Dhaka and 2 per cent of them were screened for the pandemic as per the guidelines issued by the Central government.

The Health Minister, who inspected the 2 per cent random screening at the airport here, along with Health Secretary P Senthil Kumar and Director of Public Health and Preventive Medicine Dr T S Selvavinayagam, informed that a mass fever screening system has been activated at the airports across the state.

"Tamil Nadu is prepared to tackle the pandemic. About 72,000 beds, out of 1.25 lakh available at the government hospitals across the state, have been readied for COVID-19 wards. Besides, we have three months stock of medicines and adequate supply of oxygen," Subramanian told reporters at the airport.

During a virtual meeting of state health ministers on Friday, he had briefed Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on the measures Tamil Nadu has taken to prevent and control the spread of the virus.

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