Three more U.K. returnees tested positive for COVID-19 in Tamil Nadu on Sunday. With this, 13 returnees and 12 of their contacts have tested positive so far.
The State recorded 1,009 more infections, taking its case tally to 8,14,170. As many as 1,091 persons were discharged after treatment and 10 more persons succumbed to the virus. A total of 7,93,154 persons have been discharged so far, even as the State’s toll has touched 2,069.
The number of active cases in the State dropped under 9,000, with 8,947 persons, including 2,854 in Chennai, undergoing treatment at present.
According to a bulletin issued by the Health department, 10 U.K. returnees had tested positive for the infection till Saturday. The samples of three more persons — one each from Chennai, the Nilgiris and Chengalpattu — returned positive on Sunday.
Among the 93 contacts of the 13 patients, 12 have tested positive and the results of 76 have returned negative. Results of five persons are awaited. All primary cases and their positive contacts have been kept in separate isolation wards.
Approximately, 2,300 passengers returned from the U.K., between November 25 and December 21. Of these, 1,437 have been traced and tested. A total of 1,224 persons have tested negative for COVID-19 and the results of 201 persons are yet to be known . Tracing of the remaining passengers is under way.
Earlier, one among the 49 passengers who travelled from the U.K., between December 21 and 23, had tested positive for the infection.
Of the fresh infections, Chennai accounted for 290, while Coimbatore saw 94. In Chengalpattu, 67 persons tested positive, while there were 48 cases in Tiruvallur and 40 in Tiruppur. A total of 37 persons each tested positive in Erode and Salem, while there were 35 cases in Kancheepuram. Nine districts logged new cases in single digits. This includes Perambalur (one) and Ariyalur (three).
All 10 persons who died had co-morbidities. Five of them died in Chennai.
Two of them were in their 40s. A 48-year-old man from Kanniyakumari, with chronic kidney disease, diabetes and systemic hypertension, was admitted to the Kanyakumari Medical College on December 7. He died on December 25 at the Kanyakumari Medical College due to COVID-19 pneumonia and acute respiratory distress syndrome. A 49-year-old man from Chennai with systemic hypertension was admitted to the Government Kilpauk Medical College Hospital on December 24. He died the next day due to viral pneumonia and acute respiratory distress syndrome.
In the last 24 hours, 64,283 samples have been tested in the State, taking the total figure to 1,39,24,527.
