On a day when 1,724 people tested positive for COVID-19 in Tamil Nadu, fresh infections fell below 200 in both Chennai and Coimbatore — while the former recorded 194 cases, the latter saw 198 on Saturday.
The State’s daily count topped 1,700 for the third day in a row. Along with Chennai and Coimbatore, only Erode and Chengalpattu recorded 100-plus cases. There were 121 cases in Erode and 119 in Chengalpattu. In Tiruppur, 91 people tested positive for COVID-19. There were 74 cases in Tiruvallur and 73 in Thanjavur. Salem logged 69 cases, Tiruvarur 68 and Tiruchi 63 .
The fresh cases took the State’s tally to 26,55,572. Another 1,635 people were discharged after treatment, taking the total figure to 26,02,833. At present, 17,263 people are under treatment for COVID-19.
The State recorded 22 fatalities (eight in private hospitals and 14 in government facilities), taking its toll to 35,476.
There was no death due to COVID-19 in 25 districts, including Chengalpattu and Salem. While Coimbatore reported four deaths, there were three fatalities in Chennai.
As many as 1,56,490 samples were tested, taking the total count to 4,62,30,987.
Another 1,76,680 people were vaccinated, taking the total coverage in government centres to 4,19,26,755. They included 1,11,542 people aged 18 to 44 and 47,237 people in the 45 to 59 age group. Vaccination was held in a total of 2,280 sessions.