Today, marks the completion of one year since the first Corona Virus case was registered. In the past one year, the COVID-19 Novel Corona Virus has grown into a full-blown Pandemic, which has wreaked havoc and damaged our lives irreparably. Humankind is living in what is now being called the "new normal", with social distancing, face masks and hand sanitisers becoming a part of our normal lives. The year 2020 has introduced so many new terminologies and practices into our lives, including Corona Virus, Pandemic, COVID, containment zones, outbreak, sanitiser, social distancing, work from home, moratorium and so many others! India was one of the countries which reacted almost immediately to control the spread of the Corona Virus but in due course, became the second most affected country in the world, behind only the USA.

In India, a similar sort of story happened with Tamil Nadu. After reporting very few numbers in initial stages, lack of awareness caused Tamil Nadu to have major surges in the number of COVID cases with many hotspots cropping up and a number of regions becoming containment zones! However, thanks to the unrelenting work of the frontline warriors and the government and not to forget the cooperation of the people, the COVID spread has come down rapidly in TN! Now, it has come to such a level that the Perambalur district in Tamil Nadu, has become the first COVID free district in the state! From the beginning of November, the COVID numbers have been dropping steadily and the number of new cases everyday went below 2000 after nearly 4-5 months. Now, the daily numbers have dropped below 1800 and the numbers for Chennai, have gone below 500 with the daily casualties, going below 20!

Among all the districts of Tamil Nadu, Perambalur had so far registered a total of 2,228 cases of the Corona Virus and as of yesterday evening, 33 of them were still active. However, latest reports state that all of the infected people have now been completely cured and the district has become COVID free, making it the first in Tamil Nadu. There have been 21 casualties in the district so far but the best news is that, no new cases were recorded yesterday! Reports state that Perambalur's neighbouring district Ariyalur, is also follow suit and soon become COVID free, if no new cases are recorded in the future. This is also applicable for Tenkasi and Ramanathapuram, where the number of new cases per day has come down to single digits and the number of active cases are less than 100.