On a day when fresh COVID-19 infections in the State fell marginally to 1,657, no death due to the infection was reported in 27 of the 38 districts.
Four districts — Coimbatore (189), Chennai (186), Erode (117) and Chengalpattu (113) — continued to report 100-plus cases. Fluctuations continued in a few districts — Thanjavur saw 96 cases, compared with 77 on Sunday; Tiruppur recorded 84 cases; Tiruvallur 72; Salem 64, and Tiruvarur 62.
The fresh cases took the State’s tally to 26,58,923. Of these, Chennai has accounted for 5,49,270 cases so far, followed by Coimbatore with 2,41,945 cases.
Another 19 people succumbed to the infection, taking the toll to 35,509. Coimbatore saw five deaths, while there were three fatalities in Chennai and two each in Dharmapuri and Thanjavur. Among the deceased were three persons in their 40s. They included a 44-year-old man from Kancheepuram who had no co-morbidity. He was admitted to a private hospital in Chennai on September 26 with fever and difficulty in breathing for a day. He died on the same day due to COVID-19 pneumonia.
With 1,662 people discharged after treatment, the total figure stood at 26,06,153. As many as 17,261 people are under treatment in the State. A total of 1,51,880 samples were tested, taking the total count to 4,65,38,112. One more private laboratory — New Hitech Clinical and Molecular Lab, Coimbatore — was approved for COVID-19 testing. With this, there are 301 testing facilities — 69 in the government sector and 232 private facilities — in the State.
Health Minister Ma. Subramanian told reporters that the State had three lakh doses of vaccine in hand. He said they had taken up the need for doses with the Union government. If the Union government fulfils the State’s requirement of 50 lakh doses a week, the fourth mega vaccination camp will be held this week, he said.
He added that no one was forced to get vaccinated. Instead, people had thronged to all the three mega vaccination camps. The target was achieved early, resulting in a situation where supplied vaccine doses were inadequate, a press release quoted him as saying.
