District logs 2,636 cases, 18 deaths

Coimbatore: The daily spike in Covid-19 cases in the district continued to soar above the 2,500-mark for the fourth day in a row on Wednesday, when 2,636 people were tested positive for the virus, taking the tally to 1,03,184.
The test positivity rate for the day was 22.88%. “Within the city corporation limits, the positivity rate is 25%, which is almost a 5% surge from the past week,” said an official. This means one out of every four people tested is positive in the city limits, which accounted for 68% of the caseload in the past week.
The number of active cases further swelled to 15,178 on the day, even as 1,766 patients, the highest number so far in the second wave, were discharged from various treatment centres. A total of 87,195 patients have recovered from the viral infection so far in the district, where the recovery rate has plunged to a new low of 84.5%.
The Covid-19 toll has zoomed past the 800-mark to 811, with the state bulletin reporting 18 more deaths that were occurred in the district. Three of the victims were either in their late 30s or early 40s. For the first time, a journalist - 39-year-old R Manikandan, who was working with a vernacular daily - also succumbed to the virus in the district. He died on Tuesday night.
The number of positive cases from the industrial clusters, meanwhile, continued to grow with Sulur alone accounting for close to 10% of the total cases in the past seven days. Since a majority of industries are still functioning, a health department official said, it would take longer for the curve to flatten.
Atulya Mishra, additional chief secretary to the government, and revenue and disaster management principal secretary, meanwhile, took stock of the Covid-19 preventive measures in the district. Along with district collector S Nagarajan, he inspected Covid care centres, Coimbatore Medical College and Hospital, ESI Hospital and containment zones. He also discussed the availability of oxygen and its requirement for the district.
With the active cases on the rise in the district, where only 256 ordinary beds and 10 oxygen beds were available as on Wednesday night, the number of people in home isolation has increased to 5,040.
The day also saw 2,054 people getting vaccinated against the virus. The district presently has 4,250 doses of vaccine - 760 in the district storage unit, 430 in the ESI Hospital and 2,590 across the government hospitals and primary health centres.