As many as 1,714 persons tested positive for COVID-19 in the State on Wednesday, taking the tally of active cases, including those under isolation, to 14,470. Among those who tested positive were three passengers who had arrived by flight from West Bengal and Himachal Pradesh and seven passengers who had returned from other States, including six from Bihar and one from Karnataka. The total number of cases rose to 7,63,282.
The number of persons discharged after treatment rose to 7,37,281, including 2,311 patients who were discharged on Wednesday.
A total of 18 deaths were reported in the last 24 hours — 10 at private hospitals and eight at government facilities, health officials said.
The daily bulletin of the Directorate of Public Health said Chennai recorded 479 fresh cases, whereas 608 persons were discharged. Five deaths were recorded in the district.
A total of 4,698 patients are undergoing treatment, including those being treated at home. As many as 2,10,135 persons have tested positive so far.
The number of fresh cases was below 10 in eight districts, but remained above 100 in Chengalpattu, Coimbatore and Tiruvallur. Chengalpattu reported 129 fresh cases. In Coimbatore, 162 tested positive. Tiruvallur reported 112 fresh cases.
Kancheepuram, Chengalpattu, Tiruvannamalai and Tiruppur recorded two deaths each. Coimbatore, Dindigul, Ranipet and Vellore recorded one death each. All the deaths that occurred in the last 24 hours were of persons who had a pre-existing or co-morbid condition.
Oldest victim
A 90-year-old man from Chennai was the oldest person whose death was recorded on Wednesday. He tested positive on November 2 and was admitted to a private hospital on November 16 with complaints of fever for 13 days and breathing difficulty for a day. He died on Tuesday due to acute respiratory distress syndrome/COVID-19 pneumonia.
Public health officials said that over 1.12 crore samples have been tested through the RT-PCR method so far. A total of 1,09,82,766 persons have been tested so far, including 66,244 on Wednesday.