Tamil Nadu recorded 5,595 new cases of COVID-19 on Friday. The State also saw the deaths of 67 patients. While Chennai accounted for 1,278 of the fresh infections, Coimbatore reported 495 cases and Chengalpattu 396.
Another 5,603 persons were discharged after treatment. This included 925 persons in Chennai and 637 in Coimbatore.
With this, the State’s tally touched 6,08,885 — 46,294 active cases, 5,52,938 persons discharged and 9,653 deaths.
The new cases took Chennai’s tally to 1,70,025, of which 12,013 are active cases. A total of 1,54,771 persons have been discharged and 3,241 have died due to COVID-19 in the city. Coimbatore, with a tally of 33,116 cases, overtook Tiruvallur’s count of 32,822.
Salem continued to witness a surge in cases, as 355 more persons tested positive for COVID-19.
Tiruvallur reported 255 cases, while Thanjavur saw 226. The daily count stayed high in districts such as Erode and Namakkal, which saw 194 and 163 cases respectively. Among other districts, Cuddalore reported 166 cases, Kancheepuram 157, and Tiruppur and Tiruvarur saw 149 cases each.
Chennai recorded 14 of the 67 deaths (43 in government hospitals and 24 in private facilities), while eight persons died in Salem and six in Coimbatore.
As many as 21 of them were in their 70s.
Among the deceased was a 34-year-old man from Pudukottai who had no co-morbidities and was admitted to a private hospital in Tiruchi on September 9, with complaints of fever and difficulty in breathing for seven days. He died on September 21 due to COVID-19 pneumonia. His death was recorded in the Health Department’s bulletin on Friday.
A total of 84,991 samples were tested in the last 24 hours in the State. Till date, 75,26,688 samples have been tested.
One more private laboratory — the Ganga Diagnostic Care in Chennai — has been approved for COVID-19 testing. The State has a total of 188 testing facilities — 66 in the government sector and 122 private facilities.