A total of 4,280 new cases of COVID-19 were reported across 37 districts of Tamil Nadu on Saturday, taking its tally to 1,07,001*. Chennai, after recording 2,000-plus cases a day for five days, saw a marginal dip with 1,842 new cases, while the toll crossed 1,000 with 37 more fatalities.

With 2,214 more patients discharged across the State, of which 1,198 were in Chennai, a total of 60,592 persons have been discharged till date. As on date, the number of active cases in the State stood at 44,956. The State’s toll rose to 1,450 with 65 more deaths recorded in the last four days.

Chennai’s tally touched 66,538, with 24,195 persons under treatment, including under home isolation. The city alone accounts for 1,033 deaths, followed by Chengalpattu (111), Tiruvallur (84), Madurai (57) and Kancheepuram (30).

All 37 districts reported new COVID-19 cases on Saturday. Madurai saw a new high with 350 new cases (indigenous), taking its tally to 3,776. There were 251 cases in Tiruvallur, followed by 215 in Chengalpattu. The two districts cumulatively had 4,596 and 6,355 patients, respectively.

Five districts recorded over 100 cases each — Tiruvannamalai (177), Kancheepuram (134), Ramanathapuram (111), Ranipet (102) and Virudhunagar (100). Tiruchi and Vellore had 81 cases each, while Kanniyakumari had 69 cases and Coimbatore 66. Ranipet became the 14th district in the State to have more than 1,000 cases in total.

As many as 100 persons, who had returned from abroad and other States, tested positive for COVID-19. Of this, 33 were from Kerala and 23 from Karnataka.

Of the 65 persons who died, 59 had co-morbidities. This included a 29-year-old man who had diabetes and had tested positive for COVID-19 on June 30, according to the health bulletin. He died at the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital on July 3 due to cardiopulmonary arrest, diabetic ketoacidosis, COVID-19 pneumonia, sepsis and septic shock.

A 92-year-old man from Ramanathapuram, who was admitted to the Tirunelveli Medical College on June 22 with diabetes and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, died on July 1 due to respiratory failure, acute respiratory failure and COVID-19 pneumonia.

A 46-year-old man from Chennai, who had no co-morbidities, died in a private hospital on July 3 due to acute respiratory distress syndrome, sepsis, multiple organ dysfunction syndrome and COVID-19 pneumonia, the bulletin said. He had complaints of fever for seven days and breathing difficulty for a day.

A total of 36,164 samples were tested during the last 24 hours in the State. With this, the total number of samples tested so far rose to 13,06,884. Three more testing facilities — the Government District Headquarters Hospital in Karaikudi, Sivaganga district; and two private laboratories, Aara Clinical Laboratories on Anna Salai, Chennai, and Bharathi Diagnostics on Alagar Kovil Road, Madurai — were approved in the State.

There are now a total of 94 testing facilities — 49 in the government and 45 in the private sector.

(*This is inclusive of two deaths cross-notified to other States and one patient who died after testing negative for the infection)