After 17 days, fresh COVID-19 infections on Friday dropped below 1,600 in Tamil Nadu — as many as 1,597 people tested positive, with Chennai continuing to top the table.
Five districts recorded 100-plus cases — 190 people tested positive in Chennai, followed by 170 people in Coimbatore; Chengalpattu logged 111 cases, Thanjavur 107 and Erode 102.
There were 80 cases in Tiruppur, while Tiruvallur and Tiruchi recorded 66 and 59 infections respectively. Namakkal saw 58 cases, while there were 56 cases in Salem. Six districts recorded under 10 cases each, with Tenkasi logging the least number of cases at three.
The fresh cases took the State’s case tally to 26,65,386. Twenty-five people died of COVID-19, taking the toll to 35,603. All 25 of the deceased had co-morbidities. There was no fatality in 21 districts. Chengalpattu and Chennai recorded three deaths each, while Coimbatore reported two.
Another 1,623 people, including 208 in Chennai and 186 in Coimbatore, were discharged after treatment, taking the total figure to 26,12,684. Active cases fell to 17,099. Coimbatore accounts for 2,022 active cases and Chennai 1,952.
As many as 1,53,829 samples were tested, taking the total count to 4,71,47,671. Three more private laboratories — Dr. Remedies Labs Private Limited in Chennai, Metro Diagnostics in Coimbatore and Sri Sai Diagnostics in Perambalur — were approved for COVID-19 testing. With this, there are 304 testing facilities in the State.
A total of 2,79,008 people were inoculated against COVID-19 in the State on Friday, taking the coverage in government vaccination centres to 4,53,07,115.
Of the 2,79,008 people, 1,75,875 were in the 18-44 age group and 77,244 were aged 45 to 59.
