Tamil Nadu witnessed its sharpest rise yet of COVID-19 patients on Monday, with a record 527 cases. The fresh cases were reported from 19 districts, with Chennai accounting for 266 of them and Cuddalore witnessing a sudden spike, recording 122 cases in a single day.
With this, the total number of COVID-19 cases climbed to 3,550* in the State. Twenty more children — aged 0 to 12 — have tested positive, and among them are a newborn in Cuddalore, a three-day-old and a 10-day-old in Chennai.
The State reported another death, taking the toll due to COVID-19 to 31. A 65-year-old man from Chennai, who was admitted to the Government Stanley Medical College Hospital, died at 12.45 a.m. on Monday.
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He had comorbidities, according to the bulletin issued by the Directorate of Public Health and Preventive Medicine.
The State has 2,107 active cases on date. A large number of the fresh cases were linked to the Koyambedu market, the bulletin said.
Chennai’s tally of COVID-19 cases increased to 1,724, of which 264 had been discharged, 1,438 were active cases and 18 died.
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Cuddalore's 122 new cases took its count to 161. There were 49 cases in Villupuram, 25 in Perambalur, 11 in Tiruvannamalai, 10 in Dindigul, nine each in Tenkasi and Tiruvallur, six in Ariyalur, four each in Chengalpattu and Tiruchi, three in Ranipet, two in Tiruvarur and Virudhunagar, and one each in Karur, Madurai, Ramanathapuram, Thanjavur and Tirupattur.
“We are focusing on Chennai, and are lifting more samples from the city. All our containment activities are continuing. We are taking up daily surveys in the containment zones and lifting samples from persons with fever and cough. Our main aim is early detection and breaking the chain of transmission,” a health official said.
A majority of those who tested positive were contacts of COVID-19 patients. As per the bulletin, there were 36 primary cases in Monday’s count, while the remaining were contacts. Officials have been maintaining that the number of contacts per positive patient in Chennai was higher. “In other districts, the number of contacts per positive person is about 20 to 30 but it is much more in Chennai,” the official said said. Another official said that a few persons who had visited Puttaparthi and returned to the State had also tested positive. “About 150 of them from various districts had stayed there for 15 to 20 days and have been returning. We have lifted samples from some of them,” he said.
A further 30 persons were discharged from hospitals in the State, taking the total number discharged to 1,409. The number of samples tested increased to 12,863. With this, the total samples tested in the State stood at 1,62,970. A total of 1,53,489 individuals had been tested till date. Testing of 862 samples were under process, while 9,481 samples were repeats.
One more testing facility was approved in the government sector - the Government District Headquarters Hospital, Ariyalur. With this, the State has 50 testing facilities - 36 in the government sector and 14 in the private sector. A total of 2,662 persons with suspected symptoms of COVID-19 are in isolation wards.
(*This is inclusive of two deaths cross-notified to other States and one patient who died after testing negative for the infection)