Tamil Nadu reported 1,289 fresh cases of COVID-19 on Sunday, with five districts — Chennai, Chengalpattu, Coimbatore, Thanjavur and Tiruvallur — accounting for 66% of the new cases.
Fresh COVID-19 infections have been slowly and steadily increasing across the State, with the number of districts clocking fewer than 10 cases each declining in the past few days. On Sunday, 12 districts had fewer than 10 cases each.
As many as 466 persons tested positive for COVID-19 in Chennai, followed by 138 in Chengalpattu and 109 in Coimbatore.
Thanjavur and Tiruvallur recorded 73 and 72 cases respectively. There were 35 cases in Tiruppur, 32 in Kancheepuram, 27 in Salem, 26 in Tiruvarur, 22 cases each in Dindigul and Madurai, and 21 in Tiruchi.
The new cases, which included nine returnees — two each from Jharkhand, Karnataka and Kerala, and one each from the UAE, Odisha and West Bengal — took the State’s overall COVID-19 tally to 8,66,982. In the last 24 hours, 75,258 samples were tested. Till date, 1,87,81,109 samples have been tested in the State.
Nine more persons succumbed to the infection, taking the toll to 12,599. Chengalpattu, Chennai, Kancheepuram, Nagapattinam, Pudukottai, Thanjavur, Tiruvallur, Tirunelveli and Vellore reported one fatality each. Two of them did not have co-morbidities. This included a 53-year-old man from Chennai who was admitted to a private hospital on March 16 with complaints of fever for five days, difficulty in breathing for three days and cough. He died on March 21 due to COVID-19 pneumonia. The other case was of a 48-year-old man from Kancheepuram, who died at the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital on March 20 due to COVID-19 pneumonia and respiratory failure, according to the bulletin issued by the Health Department.
The active cases rose to 7,903. Chennai accounted for the majority, with 2,985 persons presently under treatment for COVID-19.
The city, along with Chengalpattu, Coimbatore, Tiruvallur and Thanjavur, accounted for 68% of the active cases. A total of 668 persons, including 257 in Chennai, were discharged during the day. Till date, 8,46,480 persons have recovered.
U.K. returnee
A U.K. returnee tested positive for COVID-19 in Chengalpattu. The patient was under treatment in a separate isolation ward.
Of the 3,495 persons who arrived from the U.K. between January 8 and March 21, 3,051 persons were traced and tested.