A total of 5,495 persons tested positive for COVID-19 on Saturday, taking the State’s tally closer to the 5-lakh mark. The toll climbed to 8,307 with the death of 76 more patients.

With the new cases, the State’s tally rose to 4,97,066. Of this, 47,110 persons are still under treatment.

As many as 6,227 persons were discharged from hospitals following treatment, taking the number of persons discharged so far to 4,41,649.

Chennai continued to report 900-plus cases. With 978 new cases, the city’s tally increased to 1,47,591 (10,645 active cases, 1,33,987 discharged and 2,959 deaths).

While 428 persons tested positive for COVID-19 in Coimbatore, cases surged in Tiruppur with 256 persons testing positive for the infection.

There were 299 cases in Tiruvallur, 289 in Salem, 267 in Chengalpattu and 253 in Cuddalore.

In Villupuram, 175 persons tested positive, while Nagapattinam recorded 153 cases and Krishnagiri 148. Among other districts, Tiruvarur saw 147 cases and Thanjavur 145.

Of the 76 deaths, 39 were recorded in government hospitals and 37 in private facilities. Seventeen of them died in Chennai, while eight died in Salem and seven in Kancheepuram. A majority of them — 22 persons — were in their 50s.

A 27-year-old man from Chengalpattu, who had no co-morbidities, died at the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital on September 8. He died due to COVID-19 pneumonia, respiratory failure, left gangliocapsular intracranial haemorrhage, aspiration pneumonitis, hypertension and cerebrovascular accident.

Testing ramped up

A total of 88,562 samples were tested in the last 24 hours in the State. With this, 58,03,778 samples have been tested in Tamil Nadu.

Two more private laboratories — Proscan Diagnostics Pvt Ltd and Radolabs Pvt Ltd, both in Chennai — were approved for COVID-19 testing.

There are a total of 102 private laboratories and 65 government testing facilities in the State.