Coimbatore: For the fourth time in the past seven days, the district recorded more than 700 fresh Covid-19 cases on Wednesday, when 715 people were tested positive for the virus. With this, the tally has shot up to 69,563, of which 63,742 have been recovered at a (recovery) rate of 91.6%.
For the first time since October, the number of active Covid-19 cases also zoomed past the 5,000-mark in the district on the day, even as 457 patients were discharged from treatment facilities. The district presently has 5,112 patients undergoing treatment in various facilities.
The Covid-19 toll, meanwhile, went up by one to 709. The victim was a 55-year-old diabetic man, who died of bilateral bronchopneumonia four days after testing positive for the virus.
The infection rate at Thudiyalur and Sulur seems to have increased exponentially. As per the block-wise breakup, the two places account for 17% of the total cases the district had recorded over the past seven days.
Dr G Ramesh Kumar, deputy director of public health, said, “Both the blocks have dense residential areas as they share a border with the city corporation. There are also lots of industries and hence many people travel in and out for work.”
Pointing to the massive CRPF camp at Thudiyalur, another health department official said many people at the camp have been testing positive for the virus.
In a bid to control the spike in fresh cases, officials have begun insisting on testing at least 500 people for the virus from each of the two blocks. “Increasing the testing capacity through fever camps will help us identify asymptomatic patients, who could be isolated before they transmit the virus to others. This will help us reduce fresh cases,” an official said.
Meanwhile, the district received 46,000 doses of Covishield on Thursday. With this the district presently has 67,320 vaccine doses now. While the officials said the hospitals already had a combined stock of 13,670 doses of Covishield and 7,380 doses on the day, hardly 3,051 people were inoculated on Wednesday. The number of people taking the jab has been low since Saturday - 918 on Sunday, 2,292 on Monday and 2,051 on Tuesday.