Chennai’s daily COVID-19 case count dropped below the 5,000-mark after 25 days, with 4,985 people testing positive on Monday. A total of 34,867 people tested positive for COVID-19 in the State, even as 404 succumbed to the infection.
While cases dipped below 5,000 in Chennai, Coimbatore saw a rise in infections as its daily count surpassed 4,000 for the first time. As many as 4,277 people tested positive for the infection in the district.
Chengalpattu recorded 1,899 cases while Tiruppur saw 1,808. Six other districts had 1,000-plus cases. This included Erode (1,467), Madurai (1,453) and Tiruvallur (1,231).
The fresh cases took the State’s tally to 18,77,211, and pushed the active case load past three lakh. A total of 3,01,580 people are under treatment.
Chennai accounted for 81 deaths, followed by Chengalpattu and Salem, with 38 deaths each. As many as 28 persons died in Coimbatore, 22 each in Kanniyakumari and Tiruchi, 16 in Tiruvallur and 15 each in Kancheepuram and Vellore. The State’s toll due to COVID-19 rose to 20,872.
Of the 404 deceased, 103 had no co-morbidities. These included a 21-year-old man from Salem, who was admitted to a private hospital in Erode on May 12, with complaints of fever, cough and difficulty in breathing, and died on May 16 due to COVID-19 pneumonia.
A 25-year-old woman from Tiruchi — an antenatal woman with gestational diabetes — was admitted to the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Government Hospital on May 18. She died on May 20 due to COVID-19 pneumonia.
Twelve people in their 20s and 24 in their 30s succumbed to the infection.
A total of 27,026 people were discharged after treatment in the State. The number of people discharged (5,870) exceeded the fresh cases in Chennai. In the last 24 hours, 1,68,194 samples were tested.
Vaccination update
A total of 92,614 people were vaccinated on Monday, as over 50,000 people in the 18-44 age group got the jabs.
As many as 55,623 people in the 18-44 age group received the vaccines — 53,987 received Covishield and 1,636 Covaxin. Apart from them, 23,453 people aged 45-59 and 9,096 senior citizens were vaccinated. Vaccination was held in 2,401 sessions.
With this, the State’s total vaccination coverage stood at 73,33,122.
The State received 1.99 lakh doses of Covishield from the Central government on Monday.
