A total of 26,981 people tested positive for COVID-19 in Tamil Nadu on Wednesday, taking the State’s overall tally past 30 lakh. Cases rose in all districts except Chennai and Ranipet.
The number of deaths also rose, with 35 persons (23 in private hospitals and 12 in government hospitals) succumbing to the infection. This took the toll to 37,073.
Cases were up by 12% after the daily tally remained around 23,000 for the last few days. However, Chennai recorded a dip in new cases for the third day in a row, with 8,007 people testing positive for COVID-19. On Tuesday, Chennai had logged 8,305 cases. But the city reported the most number of deaths, with 12 persons succumbing to the infection.
Apart from Chennai, only Ranipet district registered a dip in the daily cases, from 282 to 150. Cases rose either marginally or steeply in every other district. Coimbatore saw its daily tally breach the 3,000-mark. As against 2,228 cases on the previous day, the district logged 3,082 cases on Wednesday.
In Chengalpattu, the number of people testing positive saw a small rise, from 2,143 to 2,194. From 830 cases on the previous day, Kanniyakumari’s daily tally crossed 1,000. While Tiruvallur reported 914 cases, Erode recorded 906, compared to 777 on the previous day.
Five districts recorded 700-plus cases - Kancheepuram (718), Madurai (732), Salem (785), Tirunelveli (713) and Tiruppur (756). In Krishnagiri, the fresh cases jumped from 371 to 638. With this, the State has so far recorded 30,14,235 cases.
All 35 persons who died had co-morbidities. Apart from Chennai, Chengalpattu recorded five fatalities and Kancheepuram three.
The number of patients discharged in a day rose to 17,456. This included 7,298 in Chennai Presently, the State has 1,70,661 active cases, of which Chennai alone accounts for 62,512.
The State increased the number of samples tested to 1,50,635. Till date, a total of 5,99,80,920 samples have been tested in Tamil Nadu.
A total of 1,48,838 people were vaccinated across the State on Wednesday. This included 9,536 people aged 15 to 17; 83,476 people aged 18 to 44; and 37,835 people aged 45 to 59. This took the overall coverage of government vaccination centres to 8,85,53,307.
The number of precaution doses administered so far crossed one lakh and stood at 1,17,136.
