Chennai, June 2 (IANS): Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K. Palaniswami on Tuesday said the government is mulling distribution of free face masks to about seven crore people in the state.

Talking to reporters here, he said they are considering giving two face masks each to seven crore people mentioned on 2.1 crore ration cards.

Palaniswami urged the people to maintain social distancing to prevent the spread of corornavirus.

He assured the people of sufficient arrangements to deal with the pandemic, saying that there were 75,000 beds across the state to admit affected persons, while in Chennai, the number of beds was 17,500.

As regards the number of ventilators, the state has a total of 3,371 ventilators (government hospitals 2,741, private hosptials 630), Palaniswami said.

He said only five per cent of the Covid-19 patients are put on ventilators.

Palaniswami said about 13,000 swab tests are being done per day in the state and in Chennai, this number is about 4,000.

He said 56 per cent of the Covid-19 patients have got cured and gone back home, and the remaining are under treatment. The death percentage is 0.80 per cent.