Coronavirus: Tamil Nadu reports highest ever deaths, adds ‘incidental Covid-19’

CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu on Saturday reported 127 deaths – the highest so far – that took the cumulative Covid-19 death toll to 5,641.
The state reported 5,860 fresh cases, which pushed the case tally to 3,32,105.
The active cases in the state rose to 54,213 compared to 53,499 on Thursday and 53,716 on Friday.
The eleven northern districts together reported 54 deaths compared to 35 deaths by the southern districts and 21 by the central districts. The eight western districts together reported 17 deaths.
While Chennai topped the districts with 26 deaths, Pudukkottai and Tanjavur reported seven each. A dozen people whose deaths were reported on Saturday had no comorbidities.
For the first time, the state reported “incidental Covid-19” – people with chronic ailments, organ failure and end stage diseases diagnosed with the viral infection. Saturday's list included a 56-year of heart patient with diabetes and hypertension and another 56-year-old with liver disease, diabetes and hypertension, a 35-year-old renal disease patient on dialysis along with diabetes and hypertension.
A 72-year-old man in Ranipet district, who died a week after being admitted to hospital, was also added to the list of “incidental Covid-19”.
“We are including all these people in the Covid death registry. But we wanted to say that the infection may have expedited death but did not directly cause it,” said health secretary J Radhakrishnan.
Hotspot Chennai reported 1,179 fresh cases. This is for the second consecutive day that the city is reporting cases in four digits after coming down to three digits for a week since August 7.
The adjoining districts Tiruvallur (422), Chengalpet (376) and Kancheepuram (184) together reported 982 cases and 12 deaths. The Chennai region added 2,161 cases on Saturday, taking the total active cases to 21,086. The other seven northern districts together reported 1088 cases and 16 deaths.
The ten southern districts together clocked 1,211 cases and 35 deaths.
While the central districts added 670 cases and 21 deaths, the western districts added 712 cases and 17 deaths. Coimbatore (290), Salem (200), Pudukkottai (170), Trichy(117) and Thanjavur (109) recorded high numbers of cases. While Coimbatore reported six deaths, Trichy clocked five deaths, and Namakkal and Tirupur had three each.