With 543 more people testing positive for COVID-19 on Tuesday, the number of active cases in Tamil Nadu stood at 5,487. So far, 8,31,866 persons have contracted the infection. With 772 patients walking out of health facilities, 8,14,098 persons have so far been discharged after treatment.
Nine more died, taking the toll to 12,281.
In Chennai district, 152 more tested positive and 191 persons were discharged, according to the daily bulletin issued by the Directorate of Public Health. The district also recorded three deaths. As on date, 1,893 persons were undergoing treatment either at hospital or at home. So far, the district has recorded 2,29,386 cases and 4,072 deaths, and 2,23,421 patients have been discharged.
Coimbatore, Chengalpattu and Thiruvallur continued to report more cases, with 58, 45 and 40 infections reported in the last 24 hours. Thiruvallur recorded two deaths, and Coimbatore, Erode, Kancheepuram and Villupuram recorded one death each. However, the number of cases remained in single digits in 21 districts.
All the deaths were due to pre-existing health complications.
The oldest patient whose death was recorded in the past 24 hours was an 86-year-old man from Thiruvallur.
He was admitted to a private hospital in Chennai on January 11 with complaints of fever, cough and nausea for two days and difficulty in breathing. He tested positive the next day. He died January 16. Doctors recorded COVID-19 pneumonia as the cause.
