Tamil Nadu’s steady rise in COVID-19 cases continued on Sunday, with the State reporting 15,659 fresh cases. The number of active cases rose to 1,05,180.
The daily death count increased to 82 from 80 on Saturday. The total deaths in the State stood at 13,557. The State also reported a sharp increase in the number of persons recovered, with 11,065 patients reported recovered, compared with 9,142 the previous day.
Even as the cases increased, the number of persons tested daily remained at 1.23 lakh. Consequently, the test positivity rate increased from 11.21% on Friday to 12.77%. Chennai continued to report the highest number of cases. There were 4,206 cases, 4,271 persons discharged and 30 deaths on Sunday. It had 31,535 active cases,accounting for 30% of all active cases in the State.
Chengalpattu, 1,242, and Coimbatore, 1,038, were the two other districts that reported over 1,000 cases. Tiruvallur, 885, Madurai, 603, Kancheepuram, 558, Tirunelveli, 549, and Salem, 511, reported more than 500 cases. Another 25 districts reported cases in the range of 100 to 500. The only districts that reported less than 100 cases were the Nilgris, 79, Sivaganga, 75, Ariyalur, 49, and Perambalur, 15. The fresh cases included 33 people who returned from other States.
According to the bulletin released by the Department of Health and Family Welfare, 70 of the 82 persons who died had co-morbidities. Of the total deaths, 51 occurred at private hospitals and 31 at government hospitals. The deceased included 52 men and 30 women.
The youngest among those who died was a 19-day-old girl child from Chennai, who tested positive on April 15. She was admitted to the Institute of Child Health and Children Hospital here a week later on Thursday. She died on Friday within 24 hours of hospitalisation. Six persons among the deceased were in the 30-40 age group, 27 in the 40-50 age group and the remaining 48 were aged above 60. The oldest was a 94-year-old man from Chennai.
The number of people vaccinated on Sunday declined sharply from the previous day. While the number generally comes down on Sundays, the decline was sharp owing to the lockdown. While 1.19 lakh people were vaccinated on Saturday, only 10,552 were vaccinated on Sunday. They included 425 healthcare workers, 852 frontline workers, 5,478 people aged 45-59 and 3,798 aged 60 and above.