Tamil Nadu reported two deaths due to COVID-19 on Thursday even as 54 persons tested positive for the disease in the State, with Chennai accounting for half the cases. The State’s COVID-19 tally now stands at 1,683 (including two who were counted in other States and one person who tested negative after death.)
A 70-year-old man died of COVID-19 at the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital. Hospital authorities said he had diabetes, hypertension and chronic kidney disease. He was on dialysis. He tested positive for COVID-19 three days ago. The other death was of a 56-year-old woman, admitted to Apollo Hospitals. She had tested positive on April 4. With this, the State has reported a total of 20 deaths due to COVID-19.
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At present, there are 908 active cases in the State. Of the 90 persons discharged during the day, 29 were from IRT Perundurai Medical College Hospital, 27 from Coimbatore ESI Medical College Hospital and 20 from the Tirunelveli Medical College Hospital. With this, the total number of persons discharged so far is 752.
Chennai continued to witness a spike in COVID-19 cases, with its count increasing to 400. Of the 27 new cases, four were children aged below 10 years. Dharmapuri district, which had no COVID-19 cases so far, recorded its first. There were five new cases in Salem, four in Namakkal, three each in Dindigul and Virudhunagar, two in Madurai, and one each in Chengalpattu, Ramanathapuram, Tenkasi, Thanjavur, Tirunelveli, Tirupattur, Tiruppur, Tiruvarur and Villupuram.
From 10 districts on Wednesday, fresh cases were reported in 16 districts. As on date, Coimbatore has a total of 134 COVID-19 cases, followed by Tiruppur with 110 cases. Nine other districts — Chengalpattu, Dindigul, Erode, Madurai, Namakkal, Thanjavur, Tirunelveli, Tiruvallur and Tiruchi — had 50 and above cases. Ariyalur, Dharmapuri, Kallakurichi, the Nilgiris, Perambalur and Pudukottai have less than 10 cases. Krishnagiri has reported no COVID-19 case so far.
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Rajendra Ratnoo, Central nodal officer coordinating on COVID-19 between the Central and State governments, said, “Tamil Nadu has really geared up and is working systematically. The State’s surveillance, testing and clinical management has picked up, and the mortality rate is still quite low.” On the high number of cases in Chennai, he said population density was a key factor. “Thick urban population is a factor. A large number of persons have been roped into surveillance in the city,” he added.
A total of 6,954 samples and 6,880 individuals were tested today. With this, the total number of samples and individuals tested in the State till now stands at 65,977 and 59,952, respectively. The State has got another testing facility in the private sector — Medall Healthcare, Chennai. With this, there are a total of 34 testing facilities — 23 in the government sector and 11 in the private sector.
A total of 1,787 persons were in isolation facilities, 23,303 persons were under active home quarantine and 108 in government quarantine facilities. Till date, 87,159 persons have completed their 28-day home quarantine in the State.