As many as 1,592 people tested positive for COVID-19 in Tamil Nadu on Sunday. Five districts — Coimbatore, Chennai, Chengalpattu, Erode and Tiruvallur — accounted for nearly 45% of the fresh cases.
Fresh infections continued to fluctuate in some parts. The day’s count was a small rise from 1,575 the previous day.
While the daily tally stood at 229 in Coimbatore, there were 165 fresh cases in Chennai. In Chengalpattu, infections rose from 99 the previous day to 127. There were 104 cases in Erode, while Tiruvallur saw 84.
Tiruppur recorded 81 cases, while Thanjavur saw a further dip 70 people tested positive. There were 62 cases in Namakkal, 58 in Salem and 56 in Tiruchi. Six districts recorded fewer than 10 cases each. The fresh cases took the State’s tally to 26,22,678.
Tamil Nadu recorded another 18 deaths due to COVID-19, taking the toll to 35,018. No deaths were reported in 25 of the 38 districts. These included Coimbatore and Erode. Among the remaining districts, there were two deaths each in Dharmapuri, Madurai, Pudukottai, Thanjavur and Tiruvannamalai, while Chennai saw one fatality.
Thirteen of the deceased had co-morbidities. Among the deceased were two people in their 40s who did not have co-morbidities. A 46-year-old man from Thanjavur was admitted to a private hospital on September 1 with complaints of fever and cough for six days and difficulty in breathing for five. He tested positive for COVID-19 on September 2 and died the next day due to COVID-19 pneumonia. A 44-year-old man from Tiruvannamalai was admitted to a private medical college hospital in Chennai on August 11 with complaints of fever for five days, cough for three days and difficulty in breathing for a day. He died on September 3 due to COVID-19 pneumonia.
Another 1,607 people were discharged after treatment, taking the total figure to 25,71,378.
The State’s active caseload stood at 16,282.
In the last 24 hours, 1,62,119 samples were tested. Two more private laboratories — Alpha Diagnostics Centre in Erode and Avini Labs in Nagapattinam — were approved for COVID-19 testing. Presently, there are 290 testing facilities in the government and private sector.
A total of 3,64,965 people were vaccinated on Sunday, taking the total coverage in government centres to 3,31,84,824. Among those inoculated were 2,36,172 people in the 18-44 age group and 99,091 people aged 45 to 59.
