As many as 6,352 persons have tested positive for coronavirus over the past 24 hours in Tamil Nadu, pushing the total tally of infected persons to 4,15,590. Having maintained the daily report of new cases below the 6,000 count for about 30 days, the state breached this number on August 29. Tamil Nadu presently has 52,726 active COVID-19 cases.
Chennai continues to top the COVID-19 charts with 1,285 persons testing positive for the virus on Saturday, pushing the total active cases in the state’s capital to 13,653. The capital city had added over 1,300 new COVID-19 cases in the past week, from 12,287 active cases on August 21. The present number is a jump by 2,332 in less than 15 days, from being 11,321 on August 15.
COVID-19 cases continue to increase in other districts with a total of 13 districts having over 1,000 active COVID-19 patients each. A total of 16 districts reported over 100-plus new cases on Saturday and this included Coimbatore (491), Salem (432), Cuddalore (420) Chengalpattu (306), Tiruvallur (284), Kancheepuram (241), Vellore (175) Villupuram (171), Kanniyakumari (160), Tirunelveli (154), Tiruvannamalai (152) and Ranipet (151).
The total number of recoveries went up by 6,045 to 3,55,727 and the state recorded 87 more COVID-19 fatalities, taking the total death toll to 7,137. A seven-year-old girl from Chennai, 26-year-old from Thanjavur (no comorbidities), a 29-year-old from Salem (no comorbidities), a 26-year-old from Thiruvallur and a 25-year-old from Thirupathur are those below 30 years of age who have succumbed to COVID-19.
The seven-year-old child was admitted to the Institute of Child Health and Hospital for Children in Egmore on August 19 after having tested positive for COVID-19. According to the state department’s bulletin, the child succumbed due to myoclonic seizures, refractory status epilepticus, neural deterioration, ventilator-associated pneumonia and COVID-19. So far, 19,323 children below the age of 12 have contracted COVID-19 in the state.
(With inputs from IANS)