Tamil Nadu recorded a ten-day high when it came to daily COVID-19 cases with 759 infections reported on Sunday, this included a patient who had just returned from UAE. The overall caseload in the state has reached close to 8.60 lakh, while four new fatalities took the death toll to 12,547. Cases had been on the decline since January 10, and then gradually started to rise again from mid-February.
Around 500 new cases a day have been recorded in the state since March 5, with recoveries being on the slightly lower side as against the earlier trend where the number of recoveries surpassed the new infections. According to PTI, the number was less with 547 people getting discharged, taking the cumulative number to 8,42,309, leaving 4,870 active cases on Sunday. Chennai accounted for almost 60% of the new infections with 294 cases being reported, aggregating a total number of 2,38,820. The city also leads in the number of fatalities with 4,178. Of the four deaths reported, Chengalpet accounted for three while Chennai recorded one. All the deceased had pre-existing comorbidities.
As many as 67,269 samples were tested on Sunday, and the cumulative number of specimens examined so far is 1,82,84,550. After Chennai, Chengalpet had the second highest number of new cases with 63 infections, Coimbatore with 58 and Thiruvallur with 42, while the rest were scattered over other districts of the state.
The Government of Tamil Nadu, on March 1, began the second phase of the COVID-19 vaccination drive, in which senior citizens above 60 years of age and those above 45 years of age with comorbidities were included. The state health department had made arrangements for people to register for the vaccination. Beneficiaries are free to choose their vaccination centres when registering or can also avail on-site registration by walking into the centre of their choice.
It is also significant that the government has intensified the COVID-19 guidelines for those entering the state from Kerala and Maharashtra, where the numbers are rapidly increasing.