Tamil Nadu reported 1,685 fresh cases of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and 21 deaths on Tuesday. With this, the State’s overall case count climbed to 34,914*, while the death toll increased to 307.
As many as 798 persons were discharged from hospitals across the State, taking the total number of persons discharged to 18,325.
Chennai hit another new high, with 1,242 indigenous cases and one imported case. The city’s overall tally inched closer to the 25,000-mark. As many as 244 of the 307 fatalities in the State have occurred in Chennai.
Tuesday marked the highest number of fatalities reported by the Health Department in a single day. All 21 fatalities occurred in Chennai — 15 in government hospitals and six in private hospitals.
Among the deceased was a 30-year-old man with no co-morbidities. The Chennai resident was admitted to a private hospital with complaints of fever and cough on June 6, and died on June 8 due to severe COVID-19 pneumonia. A 39-year-old-man with no co-morbid conditions died at the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital (RGGGH) on Tuesday due to cardiopulmonary arrest and COVID-19 pneumonia.
A 90-year-old man from Chennai with seizure disorder was admitted to RGGGH on June 5. He died on June 8 due to factors including cardiopulmonary arrest and COVID-19 pneumonia.
Sixteen of the 21 patients who died had co-morbidities, while the rest had no co-morbid conditions, according to the bulletin issued by the Health Department.
There was a decline in the number of samples tested when compared to the past few days. A total of 13,219 samples were tested. As many as 6,21,171 samples have been tested in the State till date, while the total number of persons tested stands at 12,421.
Health Minister C. Vijayabaskar told reporters that the testing capacity of the King Institute of Preventive Medicine had been increased to 1,500 samples a day.
Of the 1,685 fresh cases, 36 had returned to T.N. from abroad and other States. They included three persons who had returned from Kuwait and two from Dammam. As many as 17 persons who had returned from Delhi by flights/road/trains have also tested positive for COVID-19.
A total of 1,917 persons who had returned to the State by flights, trains, roads and seaports have tested positive for COVID-19 till date.
Cases continued to surge in Chengalpattu and Tiruvallur. With 158 new cases, the overall tally of Chengalpattu surpassed the 2,000-mark. The district currently has 2,146 cases. Tiruvallur reported 90 new infections, taking its case count to 1,476. There were 32 cases in Kancheepuram, 16 each in Madurai, Tiruvannamalai and Vellore, and 10 (including one imported case) in Thoothukudi.
Dedicated control room
A control room has been set up at the 108 Emergency Response Centre to handle calls from COVID-19-positive persons in the Greater Chennai Corporation limits and dispatch ambulances to their locality. The control room can be contacted at 044-40067108. It has 10 phone lines and would function round-the-clock. This would facilitate access to 108 ambulances without any delays, a press release said.
(*This is inclusive of two deaths cross-notified to other States and one patient who died after testing negative for the infection)
