The State recorded 509 cases of COVID-19 on Friday, even as Ramanathapuram district saw no new case and five others — Perambalur, Tenkasi, Theni, Tirupattur and Villupuram — reported one infection each.
A total of 24 districts recorded fewer than 10 cases each. This included Madurai (nine), Tiruvannamalai (two), Tirunelveli (eight), Tiruchi (nine) and Virudhunagar (three). A total of 148 persons tested positive for the infection in Chennai, 57 in Coimbatore and 48 in Chengalpattu. There were 28 cases in Tiruvallur, 21 each in Salem and Tiruppur and 20 in Erode.
Those testing positive on Friday also included five returnees — four from West Bengal and one from Karnataka. The State’s tally reached 8,37,327. Another 531 persons, including 169 in Chennai, were discharged after treatment, taking the total figure to 8,20,381. A total of 4,601 persons are presently under treatment for COVID-19 in the State.
Six more persons succumbed to the infection. Chengalpattu, Chennai, Coimbatore, Salem, Thanjavur and Vellore reported one death each.
The deceased included a 47-year-old man from Coimbatore, who had diabetes and was admitted to the Coimbatore Medical College Hospital on January 18. He died on January 26 due to bilateral bronchopneumonia. A 54-year-old man from Thanjavur, who had no co-morbidities, died within five hours of admission to a private hospital on January 28 due to acute respiratory distress syndrome and COVID-19 pneumonia. He was admitted with complaints of fever for seven days. Till date, 12,345 persons have died in the State.
A total of 52,520 samples were tested in the last 24 hours, taking the total figure to 1,59,13,194.
Meanwhile, Aarthi Scans and Labs in Kovilpatti, Thoothukudi has been temporarily removed from the ICMR’s list of approved laboratories for COVID-19 testing.
On the 14th day of vaccination, 8,659 persons were inoculated, taking the total number of persons immunised against COVID-19 so far to 97,126. As many as 8,484 persons received Covishield on Friday and 175 Covaxin out of the day’s total capacity of 29,800.
Covishield was administered in 292 sessions and Covaxin at six sites. Till date, 94,794 persons have taken Covishield and 2,332 Covaxin in the State.
