Eleven districts, including Chennai, accounted for a major chunk of the fresh COVID-19 cases reported in the State on Saturday. Nearly 70% of the 4,295 new infections were recorded in these districts.
Chennai reported 1,132 cases, while 389 persons tested positive for the infection in Coimbatore. Three districts had 200-plus cases — Chengalpattu (231), Salem (240) and Tiruvallur (218). The remaining six districts had 100-plus cases — Cuddalore (113), Erode (122), Kancheepuram (148), Namakkal (131), Thanjavur (101) and Tiruppur (159).
Vellore, which had been reporting over 100 daily cases continuously, saw 91 fresh cases on Saturday.
The State’s tally climbed to 6,83,486. As many as 5,005 persons, including 1,458 from Chennai, were discharged, taking the total figure to 6,32,708. The State’s toll rose to 10,586, with 57 more persons succumbing to the infection. Of them, 15 died in Chennai, six in Coimbatore, five in Chengalpattu and four in Vellore. A total of 3,504 persons have died in Chennai till date. Among the deceased was a 30-year-old man from Salem who was admitted to a private hospital on September 27 with complaints of fever, cough and breathing difficulty for seven days. He died on October 17 due to acute respiratory distress syndrome and COVID-19 pneumonia.
Seven persons in their 40s also succumbed to the infection. They included a 40-year-old man from Chengalpattu who had chronic kidney disease. He was admitted to a private hospital in Chennai on October 16 with complaints of breathing difficulty. He died within three hours of admission due to COVID-19 pneumonia.
As of date, a total of 40,192 persons are undergoing treatment in the State. They include 12,907 persons in Chennai and 3,861 persons in Coimbatore.
As many as 90,242 samples were tested in the last 24 hours. Till date, a total of 88,56,280 samples have been tested.