Four more women succumbed to COVID-19, taking the toll to 44 in Tamil Nadu, which on Saturday, for the fifth consecutive day, saw over 500 persons testing positive for the novel coronavirus disease. With the day’s 526 cases, the number of patients who have tested positive as on date in the State rose to 6,535*, of which 1,867 were attributed to the Koyambedu market cluster.
The fresh cases were reported in 20 districts, with Chennai continuing to lead the table with 279 cases.
According to the Health Department, a 67-year-old Chennai resident undergoing treatment at the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital since May 1 died on Friday night, while a 70-year-old resident of Ramanathapuram died on Saturday afternoon at the Sivagangai Medical College Hospital. Both had co-morbid conditions.
At the Government Kilpauk Medical College Hospital, a 58-year-old Chennai resident, admitted on May 7, died shortly past midnight on May 8 and a 73-year-old resident of Chennai, admitted on May 4, died at 3.40 p.m. on the same day, the Health Department said.
On Saturday, 219 persons were discharged from hospitals. Totally 1,824 persons have been discharged till date and 4,248 persons suspected to have symptoms of COVID-19 are in isolation wards.
New cases
Among the new patients — 360 male and 166 female — was a five-day-old baby in Chennai. The city’s total tally of cases stood at 3,330, of which 2,757 are active cases. A majority of the new cases were reported in the northern districts of the State.
There were 67 cases in Villupuram, 40 in Chengalpattu, 26 in Tiruvallur, 17 in Kancheepuram and 15 in Tiruvannamalai. The cases continued to increase in Ariyalur and Perambalur, that accounted for 16 and 31 cases, respectively. There were 10 cases in Ranipet, eight in Tirunelveli, four in Tirupattur, three in Cuddalore, two each in Ramanathapuram and Theni, and one each in Dindigul, Kallakurichi, Namakkal, Nilgiris, Thanjavur and Tiruchi.
Cuddalore had the second highest number of cases with 394, followed by Villupuram, 293; Tiruvallur, 290; Ariyalur, 271; and Chengalpattu, 224. Kancheepuram’s tally surpassed the 100-mark with the day’s new cases.
As many as 26 children in the 0-12 age group and 30 more persons aged above 60 have tested positive.
A number of pregnant women have tested positive for COVID-19 in the last few days. There are 14 such patients at the Government Kasturba Gandhi Hospital for Women and Children, Triplicane, and 18 at the Government RSRM Lying-In Hospital, Royapuram. This includes pregnant women who have tested positive for COVID-19 and were referred to the hospitals, according to officials.
A total of 13,254 samples were tested on Saturday, taking the number of samples’ tested so far to 2,29,670. Testing of 559 samples are under process. One more testing facility has been approved in the government sector — the District Headquarters Hospital, Tiruppur. With this, there are 37 testing facilities in government and 16 in private sector.
(*This is inclusive of two deaths cross-notified to other States and one patient who died after testing negative for the infection)
