On a day when fresh coronavirus infections dipped below the 600-mark in Tamil Nadu, the number of persons under treatment for the disease fell below 10,000 after 52 days. While two districts — Tenkasi and Tirupattur — had nil new case of COVID-19, 21 districts had fewer than 10 cases each.
In the third wave of COVID-19, the State’s active caseload had first breached the 10,000-mark on January 3 (10,364). On Thursday, the number of active cases dropped to 9,440 in the State.
The fresh cases dropped further to 575, taking the overall tally of cases till now to 34,47,581. In Chennai, 144 persons tested positive for the infection, while there were 81 cases in Coimbatore and 66 in Chengalpattu. Of the 21 districts that had fewer than 10 cases each, three districts — Dindigul, Kallakurichi and Theni — reported a single fresh case each.
There were four fatalities due to COVID-19 — one each Chengalpattu, Chennai, Mayiladuthurai and Ramanathapuram. The toll stood at 37,997. With the discharge of 1,913 persons, the total number of recoveries in the State so far crossed 34 lakh.
Of the 9,440 active cases, Chennai accounted for 2,015 active cases, while there were 1,346 active cases in Coimbatore. A total of 65,988 samples were tested. The State’s overall positivity rate stood at 0.87%.
Vaccination update
A total of 1,64,363 persons, including 99,567 persons aged 15 to 18 years and 35,136 persons aged 18 to 44 years, were vaccinated in the State on Thursday.
