CHENNAI: The city’s Covid-19 count continued to dip, going below even Bengaluru’s tally on Thursday. Bengaluru recorded 1,373 cases while Chennai had 1,216, the third day the number has been in the 1,200s.
Overall, Tamil Nadu reported 4,231 new cases on Thursday, which took the state’s Covid tally to 1,26,581. However, active cases numbered 46,652 as 78,161 people had recovered. A record 42,369 samples were tested across the state on Thursday.
The death toll rose to 1,765 with 64 fatalities reported on Thursday, including a 25-day old girl at the Institute of Child Health and Hospital for Children, Egmore. She already had Hirschsprung disease (intestinal disorder causing difficulty in passing stool), septicemia (blood stream infection) and underwent three surgeries.
Senior paediatrician S Balasubramanian from Kanchi Kamakoti Child Trust Hospital said the government report suggests that the child had severe comorbidities and might have struggled for survival even without the viral infection. “ Covid was only a bystander in this case. Such deaths might occur occasionally but not regularly. Overall, the impact of Covid in children is still less and their recovery rate is much higher compared to adults. So there was no need to panic,” he added.
Despite an intense lockdown in place, infection rate was on the rise in Madurai with 262 new cases. Kallakurichi, which so far recorded 544 cases, witnessed a huge spike on Thursday with 254 people testing positive.
Other districts like Virudhunagar (289), Tuticorin (196), Tirunelveli (110), Coimbatore (98), Theni (90) and Trichy (93) and continued to report more cases this week. In Salem, the curve increased steadily.
Public health expert K Kolandaisamy said that patients with symptoms in these districts shouldn’t delay going to hospitals. Early hospitalisation played a key role in reducing Chennai’s mortality rate to an extent, he said.
With 145 more people testing positive at air, rail and road surveillance camps on Sunday, total number of passengers who returned with infections increased to 4,175.
Overall, Tamil Nadu reported 4,231 new cases on Thursday, which took the state’s Covid tally to 1,26,581. However, active cases numbered 46,652 as 78,161 people had recovered. A record 42,369 samples were tested across the state on Thursday.
The death toll rose to 1,765 with 64 fatalities reported on Thursday, including a 25-day old girl at the Institute of Child Health and Hospital for Children, Egmore. She already had Hirschsprung disease (intestinal disorder causing difficulty in passing stool), septicemia (blood stream infection) and underwent three surgeries.
Senior paediatrician S Balasubramanian from Kanchi Kamakoti Child Trust Hospital said the government report suggests that the child had severe comorbidities and might have struggled for survival even without the viral infection. “ Covid was only a bystander in this case. Such deaths might occur occasionally but not regularly. Overall, the impact of Covid in children is still less and their recovery rate is much higher compared to adults. So there was no need to panic,” he added.
Despite an intense lockdown in place, infection rate was on the rise in Madurai with 262 new cases. Kallakurichi, which so far recorded 544 cases, witnessed a huge spike on Thursday with 254 people testing positive.
Other districts like Virudhunagar (289), Tuticorin (196), Tirunelveli (110), Coimbatore (98), Theni (90) and Trichy (93) and continued to report more cases this week. In Salem, the curve increased steadily.
Public health expert K Kolandaisamy said that patients with symptoms in these districts shouldn’t delay going to hospitals. Early hospitalisation played a key role in reducing Chennai’s mortality rate to an extent, he said.
With 145 more people testing positive at air, rail and road surveillance camps on Sunday, total number of passengers who returned with infections increased to 4,175.
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