For the first time, fresh COVID-19 cases in Tamil Nadu surged past the 10,000-mark on Sunday. As many as 10,723 people contracted the infection, while 42 succumbed to it in the State.
The record surge in daily infections took the State’s tally to 9,91,451. Chennai recorded another new high with 3,304 cases. The city accounted for 16 of the 42 fatalities.
For the second day in a row, over a lakh samples were tested, taking the total figure to 1,10,130. As many as 1,08,155 people got tested on Sunday.
With 5,925 people being discharged after treatment, the total figure rose to 9,07,047. The surge in cases pushed the active caseload to 70,391, of which Chennai accounted for 25,011 people.
Thirty-seven of the 42 deceased had co-morbidities. Among the five persons who did not have co-morbidities was a 48-year-old man from Kancheepuram, who was admitted to a private hospital on April 14 with complaints of fever for seven days and cough and difficulty in breathing for two days. He died on April 17 due to acute respiratory distress syndrome and COVID-19 pneumonia.
According to the medical bulletin, 11 of those who died were in their 50s. A 53-year-old man from Tiruvallur, who had no co-morbidities, died at the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital a day after admission on April 16 due to COVID-19 pneumonia, respiratory failure and acute respiratory distress syndrome. The fatalities took the State’s toll to 13,113. Of these, Chennai accounts for 4,400 deaths, followed by Chengalpattu (866) and Coimbatore (707).
As cases surged across the State, Chengalpattu recorded 954 cases and Coimbatore 727. There were 503 cases in Tiruvallur.
Four districts recorded 300-plus cases — Kancheepuram (332), Tirunelveli (309), Tiruppur (307) and Tiruchi (311).
A total of seven districts had 200-plus cases. These included Madurai (276), Salem (275), Thoothukudi (252) and Vellore (229).
Among those who tested positive on Sunday were 29 returnees. They included six from Jharkhand and five each from West Bengal and Bihar.
Vaccine coverage dips
The number of persons vaccinated dipped to 25,670 on Sunday, taking the total coverage to 47,31,143. Of the 25,670 people, 13,372 were aged 45-59 and 9,454 were senior citizens.
Covishield was administered to 419 healthcare workers, 1,020 frontline staff, 8,167 people aged 45-59 and 6,049 senior citizens, while Covaxin was administered to 472 healthcare workers, 933 frontline staff, 5,205 people aged 45-59 and 3,405 senior citizens.
A few days ago, a number of districts faced a shortage of vaccines. On Sunday, Health Minister C. Vijayabaskar tweeted that the State had received 55.85 lakh doses of vaccines from the Centre. “We have completed 47.05 lakh doses and have stocked up 8.8 lakh doses for vaccination,” he tweeted. He urged people not to pay heed to rumours about vaccines.