Madurai district witnessed its highest spike in a single-day with 90 persons testing positive for COVID-19 here on Saturday. The tally of cases is now 636.
The district also recorded its eighth death as a 45-year-old high-risk pregnant woman died on June 19. She was brought to the Government Rajaji Hospital at 1 a.m. on June 16 but her condition continued to deteriorate and she died due to viral pneumonia and COVID-19.
The government bulletin stated that all the 90 cases in Madurai were indigenous cases.
The count of active cases is currently 261 and it has risen by 63 since Friday. Twenty-two patients were discharged on Saturday.
According to Collector T. G. Vinay the patients who tested positive included 13 frontline workers and 14 contacts of patients with COVID-19. The list also included 12 people from Chennai, two from Tiruchi and one each from Nagercoil and Bangalore.
A total of 44 people had symptoms of Influenza Like Illnesses (ILI) and six people complained of other symptoms including chest pain. Others were asymptomatic.
A total of 1,631 test were conducted in a day according to the data uploaded on the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) portal by ICMR approved labs as the total test count rose to 23,092. The data was made available on the State bulletin and reflected figures as on June 20.
The test per million count stood at 6,510.
Dindigul
In Dindigul district, the number of fresh cases was six taking the total active cases to 278. Officials said that they all had returned from Chennai.
In Theni district, except for one case, who had a travel history of having returned from Chennai, seven others were indigenous cases. With one medical professional testing positive, the control room (opened for COVID-19 related issues) functioning at the Collectorate was closed. All the other six persons, who tested positive were found to be contacts of COVID-19 positive people from Theni town, Periakulam, Cumbum and Bodinayakkanur.
Ramanathapuram
In Ramanathapuram, 24 persons tested positive on Saturday, which included a senior officer in the Collectorate in the rank of District Revenue Officer. According to doctors, the officer had recently come on transfer and after testing positive, the officer was shifted to Madurai Government Rajaji Hospital for treatment. The others included four staff in the revenue section at the Collectorate. An advocate aged about 80 years, who was suffering from fever, died and a test showed that he was COVID-19 positive. All the other cases were indigenous and they were from Ramanathapuram Town, Keelakarai and surrounding areas of Paramakudi.
In Sivaganga, with 15 more persons testing positive, the total positive cases rose to 95 and 49 persons have so far been discharged. The officials attributed to returnees from Chennai and other cities during the last week, which had caused an increase in positive cases.
Tirunelveli
Despite sustained efforts being put in by the district administration to curb the pandemic, the district’s COVID – 19 tally continues to grow with the addition of 28 more new cases that took the total number of infections to 612 on Saturday. The district’s active cases tally stood at 194 on Saturday.
Similarly, Thoothukudi saw a massive spike on Saturday as it recorded 46 more patients, all indigenous cases, to take the district’s tally to 575 and the number of active cases to 212.
Kanniyakumari recorded 15 fresh cases including 14 indigenous cases on Saturday that took total number of the infections to 162 and 66 cases are undergoing treatment in the Government Medical College Hospital at Aasaaripallam.
In Tenkasi, the COVID – 19 tally rose to 218 with the addition of eight more new cases including seven indigenous cases and the district now has 218 active cases.