Tamil Nadu’s daily COVID-19 case tally dropped below the 500-mark as 480 persons tested positive on Saturday. This was the first time that the State logged fewer than 500 cases a day in nearly a year.
The last time that the State recorded fewer than 500 cases was on March 4, 2021 (482 cases). According to details released by the Health Department, the lowest daily tally in the first wave was 438 cases on February 20, 2021. In the second wave, the lowest daily caseload recorded was 597 on December 24, 2021.
Of the 480 fresh cases, Chennai logged 126, followed by Coimbatore where 72 persons tested positive. There were 55 cases in Chengalpattu. Five districts — Kallakurichi, Mayiladuthurai, Perambalur, Theni and Tirupattur — recorded no cases. As many as 20 districts clocked fresh cases in single digit.
The State recorded two fatalities — one each in Chennai and Tiruvarur. A total of 38,002 persons have succumbed to the infection so far.
Another 1,464 persons were discharged after treatment. This took the total number of recovered patients to 34,03,402.
The number of persons currently under treatment stood at 7,164. Of them, Chennai had 1,651, while the active cases dropped below 1,000 in Coimbatore (983).
As many as 63,263 samples were tested. A total of 6,42,81,633 samples have been tested so far.
A total of 1,11,675 persons were vaccinated in the State on Saturday. This took the coverage of government vaccination centres to 9,66,99,704. Among those vaccinated were 36,957 persons aged 15-18 and 40,612 persons aged 18-44.
