Fresh COVID-19 cases marginally increased for the second day in Tamil Nadu as 562 persons tested positive for the infection on Saturday. Chennai, with 243 new cases, continued to record a significant rise among all the districts.
Three districts — Ariyalur, Dharmapuri and Perambalur — recorded no new COVID-19 cases. A total of 25 districts clocked in new cases in the single digits. Of this, six districts had only one case each.
Chengalpattu and Coimbatore recorded 49 and 48 cases respectively, while Tiruvallur reported 39 cases. There were 25 cases in Kancheepuram, while a total of 20 persons each tested positive for the infection in Thanjavur and Tiruppur. Erode reported 13 cases, while Vellore had 10 cases.
As of date, the State accounted for a total of 8,54,554 cases. With 560 persons recovering, a total of 8,38,085 persons have been discharged till now. The State recorded four fatalities — two in Chennai, and one each in Chengalpattu and Coimbatore. This took the toll to 12,517.
Presently, as many as 3,952 persons are under treatment for COVID-19 in the State. Of this, Chennai accounted for 1,857 cases.
In the last 24 hours, 55,051 samples were tested in the State. So far, 1,77,91,275 samples have been tested.
Vaccination coverage
A total of 85,472 persons received the COVID-19 vaccine on Saturday. This took the overall coverage to 8,48,076.
As many as 28,697 frontline workers, 27,931 senior citizens, 18,069 persons aged 45 to 59 with co-morbidities and 10,775 healthcare workers were vaccinated in 1,297 sessions held across the State. While 78,586 persons received the first dose, 6,886 persons received the second dose.
A majority of them — 10,296 healthcare workers, 28,052 frontline workers, 17,639 persons with co-morbidities and 27,159 persons aged above 60 years — received Covishield.
So far, 4,12,459 healthcare workers, 2,19,303 frontline workers, 79,400 persons with co-morbidities and 1,36,914 senior citizens have been vaccinated in the State, according to the daily report issued by the Directorate of Public Health and Preventive Medicine.