For the tenth day in a row, over 5,000 persons tested positive for COVID-19 in Tamil Nadu on Saturday, even as Chennai reported less than 1,000 cases for the second consecutive day.

A total of 5,883 persons tested positive in the State on Saturday, taking its overall tally to 2,90,907. As many as 53,481 persons are undergoing treatment. However, the number of persons who died of COVID-19 continued to rise, with another 118 fatalities recorded by the Health Department. Twenty of them died in Chennai, while there were 10 deaths in Coimbatore, eight in Chengalpattu and seven in Tirunelveli. A total of 4,808 persons have succumbed to the infection in the State till date.

A 29-year-old woman who had a history of gestational diabetes was brought dead to a private hospital in Chennai on August 6. She had complained of fever and breathing difficulty, and died of COVID-19. A 30-year-old man from Thanjavur was admitted to the Thanjavur Medical College Hospital on August 3. He died on August 6 due to respiratory failure, COVID-19 and diabetes.

Till date, a total of 2,32,618 persons have been discharged after treatment in the State. Of the 5,043 patients who were discharged on Saturday, 869 were in Chennai, 366 in Ranipet and 327 in Tiruvallur.

A total of 986 persons tested positive for COVID-19 in Chennai, while Theni recorded 452 new cases. Chengalpattu followed with 425 cases, while Tiruvallur had 391 infections. Five districts reported 200-plus cases — Kancheepuram (284), Tenkasi (203), Thanjavur (227), Thoothukudi (245) and Virudhunagar (246). Nine other districts had 100-plus cases. They included Kanniyakumari (196), Cuddalore (192), Coimbatore (183), Vellore (154) and Dindigul (138). Madurai recorded 91 cases.

The number of individuals tested so far in the State crossed the 30-lakh mark, reaching 30,41,529. In the last 24 hours, 67,553 samples were tested, taking the total number of samples tested till date to 31,55,619.

More private laboratories have been approved for COVID-19 testing — Micro Therapeutic Research Labs Pvt Ltd, Chennai; Billroth Hospitals; Clinical Laboratory Services, Chennai; and Raos Pathlab, Salem. As of date, there are 129 testing facilities in T.N.

U.T. toll at 80

Puducherry recorded five more COVID-19 deaths on Saturday, taking the toll to 80. The Health Department, in a statement, said five persons — three in Puducherry and two in Karaikal — died of the viral infection in the last 24 hours.

The Union Territory also witnessed 268 new admissions during the period. Of the new cases reported, 228 were from Puducherry region, 38 from Karaikal and 2 from Yanam.

With this, the total tally went up to 5,087 cases. At present, 1,953 patients are under treatment in various hospitals in the four regions of the Union Territory. As many as 3,054 patients have been discharged so far.

Lockdown warning

Taking a serious note of the growing number of cases, Chief Minister V. Narayanasamy on Saturday said his administration would be compelled to impose lockdown if people did not heed the advice of the government to maintain physical distancing at public places.

In a press conference held online, the Chief Minister said: “We have been repeatedly telling people to maintain social distancing and personal hygiene. But people are not listening to the advice and without knowing the seriousness of the spread of virus, they are gathering at public places without taking precautions.”

The Chief Minister said the government had received several inputs about the spread of virus in fishing hamlets and after religious gatherings.

The State Disaster Management Authority meeting would be convened on Wednesday to take stock of the situation, he said.