Tamil Nadu on Monday recorded 4,985 fresh cases of COVID-19 and 70 deaths associated with the disease. The northern districts continued to account for over half of the fresh infections, with Chennai topping the table with 1,298 cases.

The State has been reporting over 4,000 cases a day since July 12. The fresh cases reported on Monday took Tamil Nadu’s tally to 1,75,678*. As many as 3,861 persons were discharged, taking the total figure to 1,21,776. As of date, 51,348 persons are undergoing treatment across the State. A total of 2,551 persons have died so far.

Over 50,000 persons were tested for the infection for the second consecutive day on Monday. This took the total number of persons tested till date to 19,06,617. A total of 52,087 samples were tested in the last 24 hours.

Cases continued to rise in Tiruvallur. With 454 fresh infections, the district’s tally shot up to 9,424. With 354 fresh infections, Chengalpattu’s case count exceeded the 10,000-mark. Kancheepuram recorded 329 cases, while Tiruvannamalai reported 148. Vellore had 114 cases. There were 98 cases in Ranipet, 88 in Kallakurichi, and 85 each in Villupuram and Cuddalore.

In the southern part of the State, there was a dip in cases in Madurai. The district reported 106 new cases. Thoothukudi saw 199 cases, followed by Tirunelveli (180) and Virudhunagar (169). There were 107 cases in Theni, 103 in Tenkasi, 90 in Kanniyakumari and 81 in Ramanathapuram. Coimbatore reported 134 cases.

A total of 55 returnees, including 24 from Karnataka, tested positive for COVID-19. A total of 4,843 returnees have tested positive till date.

Of the 3,861 persons who were discharged on Monday, 1,269 had been undergoing treatment at hospitals in Chennai. A total of 331 persons were discharged in Virudhunagar and 296 in Kancheepuram.

As of date, a total of 70,651 persons have been discharged and 15,127 are undergoing treatment in Chennai. The city accounted for 1,456 deaths.

Of the 70 deaths reported on Monday, Chennai accounted for 22, while nine deaths occurred in Tiruvallur and seven in Chengalpattu. Among the deceased were seven persons who had no co-morbidities. They included a 25-year-old man from Tiruvallur, who was admitted to the Government Stanley Medical College Hospital on July 15. His sample returned positive the next day. He died on July 20 due to sepsis, multi-organ dysfunction, acute kidney injury on haemodialysis, bronchopneumonia, respiratory failure and acute severe pancreatitis.

A 34-year-old man with diabetes was admitted to a private hospital in Kanniyakumari on July 4 with complaints of fever and cough for three days. He died on July 18 due to acute respiratory distress syndrome, viral pneumonia and COVID-19 pneumonia.

A total of 8,776 children under 12 and 21,682 persons aged above 60 have tested positive so far.

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