Tamil Nadu on Saturday logged 5,495 fresh COVID-19 infections taking the tally close to the five lakh mark with 4,97,066 positive cases being reported till date, the Health department said. With 76 deaths reported today, the toll mounted to 8,307 in the state, the Health department said in a bulletin.
Recoveries continued to outnumber fresh infections as 6,227 people walked out from various healthcare facilities, taking the tally of those cured so far to 4,41,649. Active cases which dropped below the 50,000 mark a few days ago stood at 47,110 in the state.
As many as 88,562 specimens were tested on Saturday taking the total number of samples tested at the over 150 facilities so far to 58,03,778. Tamil Nadu does not use Rapid Antigen Diagnostic Tests and all tests are RT-PCR (Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction based).
The state capital clocked 978 new infections taking its tally to 1,47,591 contributing to the State’s over four lakh cases. Besides Chennai, Coimbatore recorded 428 new cases, followed by Thiruvallur (299), Salem (289), Chengalpet (267), Tirupur (256) and Cuddalore (253), the bulletin said.
Erode, Kancheepuram, Kanyakumari, Nagapattinam, Thanjavur, Thiruvaru, Tirunelveli, Vellore and Villupuram logged more than 100 cases. While Chennai registered the highest number of new cases (978) today, Ariyalur district saw the least with 14.
Among the 76 deaths reported today, 68 were with comorbidities while eight were without comorbidity — which include a 27-year old man from neighbouring Chengalpet who died due to respiratory failure. At least eight of the deceased were octogenarians, the bulletin said. As many as 36 of the patients who died were between the age of 60 and 79 years. Five of those who tested positive (of the 5,495 new infections) were returnees from various States, the bulletin said. Of the 8,307 deaths reported till date, 2,959 people were from Chennai.
