Coronavirus | Active cases fall under 19,000 after five months

State reports 2,341 new cases and 25 deaths; Chennai accounts for 603 infections; 2,352 persons discharged after treatment

Even as the number of persons under treatment fell below 19,000 on Saturday, after nearly five months, the State reported 2,341 new cases of COVID-19. The number of active cases in Tamil Nadu stood at 18,966.

The fresh cases pushed the tally to 7,41,488. Another 2,352 persons were discharged, and 25 persons, including a 101-year-old man, succumbed to the infection, taking the toll to 11,324. The total number of persons discharged stood at 7,11,198.

Cases continued to dip, gradually, in Chennai, while the number of persons under treatment dropped under 6,000. The city accounted for 603 fresh cases and six deaths, taking its tally to 2,04,258 and toll to 3,711.

With 213 new infections, Coimbatore’s tally rose to 44,889. Chengalpattu recorded 112 cases and five deaths, taking its total case count to 44,729. The active cases in Chengalpattu fell below 1,000. A total of 938 persons are currently under treatment in the district.

There were 137 cases in Tiruvallur, 114 in Tiruppur, 108 in Erode and 106 in Salem.

Centenarian dies

Among the deceased, the centenarian from Chennai was admitted to a private hospital on November 4. He died the next day due to acute respiratory distress syndrome and COVID-19 pneumonia.

Two persons in their 30s also succumbed to the infection. These included a 35-year-old woman from Chengalpattu who had no co-morbidities. She was admitted to the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital on November 4. She died on November 5 due to COVID-19 pneumonia and respiratory failure. A 30-year-old man from Villupuram, who had aplastic anaemia, was admitted to a private medical college hospital in Vellore on October 19, with complaints of abdominal pain, anorexia and nausea. He died on November 5 due to COVID-19 pneumonia.

A total of 80,112 samples were tested in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of samples analysed to 1,04,86,338.

One more private laboratory — Dr. Lal Pathlabs Ltd, KKR ENT Hospital and Research Building, Chennai — was approved for COVID-19 testing. With this, there are now 205 testing facilities in the State.