Tamil Nadu’s COVID-19 death toll crossed 10,000 on Thursday. With 68 more fatalities, a total of 10,052 persons have died so far.
The State recorded the first death of a person who tested positive for COVID-19 on March 25 — a 54-year-old man undergoing treatment at the Government Rajaji Hospital, Madurai.
As 5,088 more persons tested positive on Thursday, the State’s overall case count climbed to 6,40,943. There was a marginal dip in fresh infections in Chennai as 1,295 persons tested positive. There were 448 cases in Coimbatore, 363 in Chengalpattu and 362 in Salem. The number of cases stayed high in Thanjavur at 239, while Tiruvallur recorded 194 cases and Tiruppur 173.
Among the other districts, Namakkal had 147 cases (including one imported case), Erode 132 and Vellore 133 (including four imported cases).
Chennai’s overall case tally stood at 1,78,108: 1,61,477 discharged, 13,280 active cases and 3,351 deaths. Chengalpattu followed with a total of 38,487 cases and Coimbatore with 35,933 cases.
The number of active cases in the State stood at 44,437. With the discharge of 5,718 more persons, a total of 5,86,454 persons have been discharged so far.
Among the 68 deaths (37 at government hospitals and 31 at private facilities), 16 persons died in Chennai, seven in Vellore and five in Thanjavur. These included a 31-year-old woman with obesity, hypothyroidism, and Down Syndrome. She was admitted to a private hospital in Coimbatore on October 2 with complaints of fever and difficulty in breathing for five days. She died on October 7 owing to acute respiratory distress syndrome and COVID-19 pneumonia.
A 37-year-old man from Ariyalur who had no co-morbidities was admitted to a private hospital in Chengalpattu on September 25 with complaints of fever, cough and difficulty in breathing for 10 days. He died on October 7 owing to COVID-19 pneumonia.
A total of 80,44,447 samples have been tested in the State so far. The number included 87,341 samples tested in the last 24 hours.