The State on Saturday continued to see a surge in COVID-19 cases and fatalities, with 27,397 more people testing positive for the infection and 241 succumbing to it.
The State’s tally rose to 13,51,362, while its toll touched 15,412. The fresh cases pushed its active caseload to 1,39,401.
The 241 fatalities (90 in private hospitals and 151 in government facilities) took place over the past week.
However, a majority of these people died between May 5 and 7. Of these, Chennai accounted for 72 deaths.
This was followed by Tiruvallur which saw 17, Kancheepuram 14, Tiruchi 12 and Tirupattur 11. Chengalpattu and Salem recorded 10 deaths each.
Sixty-one of the deceased did not have co-morbidities. They included a 27-year-old man from Thoothukudi, who died at the Thoothukudi Medical College Hospital on May 7 due to COVID-19 pneumonia and acute respiratory distress syndrome.
Among the deceased, 15 people were in their 30s and 38 in their 40s.
As many as 6,846 people tested positive for COVID-19 in Chennai, while Chengalpattu and Coimbatore recorded 2,458 and 2,117 cases respectively. There were 1,284 cases in Tiruvallur and 1,217 in Madurai. Kancheepuram reported 906 cases, Thanjavur 857 and Thoothukudi 853. There were 820 cases in Tiruchi.
With 23,110 more people being discharged after treatment, Tamil Nadu’s total figure of discharged people touched 11,96,549. In 24 hours, 1,55,998 samples were tested, taking the total figure to 2,38,54,797.
Some 13,948 beds — 4,346 oxygen-supported beds, 8,607 non-oxygen ones and 995 ICU beds — are vacant in COVID-19 hospitals and health centres in the State.
Of the total earmarked beds of 43,566 in COVID-19 Care Centres, 24,129 are vacant. Status of beds in the State is available on http://tncovidbeds.tnega.org /
As many as 59,671 people, including 31,400 in the 45-59 age group and 17,908 senior citizens, were vaccinated on Saturday, taking the State’s total coverage to 63,88,078.