Tamil Nadu’s daily count of COVID-19 cases surged past 26,000 on Friday. A total of 26,465 people tested positive and 197 persons, including a 17-year-old boy, died, taking the overall case tally to 13,23,965 and toll to 15,171.
Chennai, along with the neighbouring districts of Chengalpattu, Tiruvallur and Kancheepuram, accounted for 42% of the fresh cases. A total of 93 of the 197 deaths were reported from these four districts.
In Chennai, 6,738 people tested positive, while there were 2,154 cases in Chengalpattu, 1,384 cases in Tiruvallur and 857 in Kancheepuram. Coimbatore continued to report 2,000-plus cases, as 2,101 people tested positive. Madurai’s daily count crossed 1,000 — 1,051 people were infected. There were 855 cases in Thoothukudi, 784 in Tiruchi and 673 in Tirunelveli.
The fresh cases took Chennai’s overall count to 3,77,042, while Chengalpattu’s and Coimbatore’s overall tally reached 92,476 and 90,454 cases respectively.
Of the 197 fatalities, Chennai accounted for 60, followed by Tiruvallur (15), and Madurai (14).
The 17-year-old boy, who did not have co-morbidities, was admitted to the Tirunelveli Medical College Hospital on May 2. He died on May 4 owing to COVID-19 pneumonitis and acute respiratory failure. Four persons aged in their 20s succumbed to the infection. They included a 21-year-old woman — a post-natal mother — from Tirunelveli. She died at the Tirunelveli Medical College Hospital on May 4 owing to COVID-19 pneumonitis and acute respiratory failure.
A 23-year-old man from Chennai was admitted to a private hospital on April 28 with complaints of fever, cough and difficulty in breathing for five days. He died on May 5 owing to COVID-19 pneumonia.
A total of 22,381 people were discharged after treatment. So far, 11,73,439 people have been discharged. The fresh cases pushed the active case load to 1,35,355.
In the last 24 hours, 1,52,812 samples were tested. So far, 2,36,98,799 samples have been tested.
77% beds occupied
According to the Health Department’s daily bulletin, a total of 14,280 beds — 4,882 oxygen beds, 8,256 non-oxygen beds and 1,142 Intensive Care Unit beds — were vacant across the State.
Accordingly, only 23% of the total 61,050 beds — 30,050 oxygen beds, 23,494 non-oxygen beds, 7,506 ICU beds — were vacant. In Chennai, 1,474 beds were vacant. These included 258 oxygen beds, 1,204 non-oxygen beds and 12 ICU beds.
The city has a total of 5,849 oxygen beds, 4,234 non-oxygen beds and 1,735 ICU beds.
91,665 vaccinated
Another 91,665 people were vaccinated on Friday. This took the overall coverage to 63,28,407. Of them, 46,413 persons were aged 45-59 and 28,583 were senior citizens. A total of 3,364 healthcare workers, 9,472 frontline workers, 37,073 people aged 45-59 and 22,804 senior citizens received Covishield, while 1,114 healthcare workers, 2,719 frontline workers, 9,340 people aged 45-59 and 5,779 senior citizens received Covaxin.
1,746 cases in U.T.
Puducherry recorded the highest single-day toll in the second wave of COVID-19, with 19 fatalities, even as 1,746 fresh cases were confirmed from 8,220 tests. Puducherry reported 17 deaths and Yanam two to take the toll to 920 in the Union Territory.
Of the fresh cases, Puducherry accounted for 1,375, Karaikal 183, Yanam 136 and Mahe 50.
The test positivity rate was 21.24%, the case fatality rate 1.35% and the recovery rate 79.53%. After the recovery of 1,079 patients, the active cases stood at 13,078 cases. Of them, 2,054 were at hospitals and 11,024 in home isolation.
Meanwhile, 168 healthcare workers, 97 frontline staff and 559 members of the public took the first vaccine shot, taking the overall tally to 2,09,062.
