Tamil Nadu recorded 5,881 fresh COVID-19 cases on Friday, taking the overall tally to 2,45,859, of which 57,968 were active cases.
It also reported the death of 97 patients, including three in their 20s, taking the toll to 3,935.
Marginal dip
Chennai reported 1,013 cases, a marginal dip, taking its overall tally closer to the one lakh-mark.
Among the deaths recorded in the Health Department’s bulletin were those of 44 persons who died on July 30 and 32 persons on July 29. A 27-year-old woman, who had no co-morbidities, was among those who died. A resident of Tiruvallur, she was admitted to the Government Kilpauk Medical College Hospital on July 26. Her swab returned positive on July 27. But she died on July 30 owing to COVID-19 pneumonia, acute respiratory distress syndrome and septic shock.
A 27-year-old man from Coimbatore was admitted to the Coimbatore Medical College Hospital on July 28. However, he died on July 29 owing to traumatic quadriplegia, COVID-19 and bronchopneumonia. A 29-year-old man, who had chronic kidney disease and hypertension, died within nine hours of admission to the Kanyakumari Government Medical College Hospital on July 30 owing to respiratory failure, COVID-19 pneumonia, chronic kidney disease and hypertension.
Chennai accounted for 21 of the deaths, while Tiruvallur recorded 10 deaths.
Furthermore, 5,778 persons were discharged after treatment across the State. In fact, the number of patients discharged exceeded the fresh cases in Chennai. As many as 1,026 persons were discharged from hospitals in the city, followed by 663 in Tiruvallur. A total of 1,83,956 persons have so far been discharged in the State.
Surge in Kancheepuram
Kancheepuram saw a surge in cases as 485 persons tested positive. Four districts had 300-plus cases: Tiruvallur-373, Ranipet-359, Virudhunagar-357 and Chengalpattu-334. In Theni, 299 persons tested positive, while Thoothukudi and Tirunelveli had 282 and 222 cases respectively.
There was a dip in cases in Madurai as 173 persons tested positive. Eight other districts, including Vellore, Kanyakumari, Coimbatore, Villupuram and Cuddalore, had 100-plus cases. In addition, 31 returnees tested positive in different districts.
The Health Department tested 60,276 samples in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of samples tested so far to 26,58,138. One government laboratory — District Public Health Laboratory, Walajapet — was recently approved for testing. As of date, the State has 120 testing facilities.
Another high in U.T.
A 56-year-old woman with co-morbidities succumbed to COVID-19 on Friday, taking the toll to 49, even as Puducherry recorded its highest increase yet of 174 cases in a 24-hour cycle.
The new cases were identified from the testing of 973 samples, indicating a positivity rate of 17.9%.
The fatality rate fractionally dropped to 1.4% from 1.5%.
While Puducherry accounted for 135 of the new cases, 13 were admitted to the government hospital in Karaikal and the remaining 26 were admitted to the government hospital in Yanam. Mahe did not add to its sole COVID-19 case.
Another 178 patients are in home isolation — 167 in Puducherry and 11 in Yanam.
Bedi adds e-mail id
Meanwhile, Lt. Governor Kiran Bedi has added an e-mail id to the channels of reaching out suggestions and grievances.
“This is to strengthen this feedback system and also provide an alternative access to me personally in confidence. I have set up a personal email to keep total confidentiality in email as well,” Ms. Bedi said.
The email account, Covidpuducherry@gmail.com, is for anyone to share any information directly, be it a grievance or a suggestion to help improve and deal with the matters, the Lt. Governor said.
As many as 158 persons tested positive for COVID-19 in Cuddalore district on Friday, while neighbouring Villupuram reported 169 cases.
