TN records 1,235 new COVID-19 cases; Active cases set to fall below 10k

The active COVID-19 cases in Tamil Nadu continued to dwindle with the number of people under treatment for the viral disease sliding to 10,299 on Friday while the infection count inched toward the eight lakh mark. The state added 1,235 fresh infections and 17 more deaths taking the infection tally to 7,96,475 and the toll to 11,870, a health department bulletin said.

As many as 1,311 people got cured of the contagion with the total recoveries climbing to 7,74,306. The active cases, coming down with the daily recoveries outnumbering fresh infections, stood at 10,299 as against around 11,000 in the beginning of this month.

Only two districts -- the state capital (307) and Coimbatore (115) -- logged new cases in triple digits on Friday. Nine districts added new infections in single digit while 28 reported 'zero' fatalities.

Chennai continued to top the districts in terms of total cases with 2,19,168 infections and also accounted for the maximum of 3,904 fatalities among the districts. A total of 70,436 samples were tested on Friday taking the cumulative specimens examined to 1,24,19,251. From the beginning, Tamil Nadu undertakes only RT-PCR (Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction based), considered the gold standard to detect COVID-19.

All the fresh fatal cases were also suffering from chronic illness. A 39-year-old man from Dindigul with 'diabetes mellitus' died on the same day of admission at a government hospital due to 'COVID-19 Pneumonia', the bulletin said. PTI VIJ VS VS