Chennai, Apr 8 (IANS): The Tamil Nadu health department will conduct a mock drill to assess the prepared of the department in curbing the possibilities of a Covid-19 surge. The Test Positivity Rate (TPR) in many districts of Tamil Nadu have touched above 5 indicating that things are not rosy.

However state Health Minister, Ma Subramanian expressed confidence in bringing things under control and told people not to worry about the slight increase in Covid cases. The minister has called upon people to strictly abide by the Covid protocol put forward by the government including wearing masks, safe distancing and washing hands regularly.

The minister said that the variant of Omicron that is present in the country was not lethal and hence called upon the people not to worry much but to be cautious.

Tamil Nadu reported 303 fresh cases on Friday, and the total active cases reached 1530.

The health department is conducting mock drill in all the government hospitals of the state to understand the preparations the medical staff have including the infrastructure available if there is a surge in cases.

According to the health minister, Tamil Nadu have 24.061 Oxygen concentrators and medical oxygen storage capacity of 2067 metric tonnes.

While speaking to IANS, Ma Subramanian said, "We had a meeting with Union Health Minister Manush Mandaviya virtually and things are under control. However, people have to be cautious and abide by the Covid protocol prescribed by the health department."

The minster also said that the RT-PCR tests per day will be increased from the present 4000 to 11000.