The daily count of SARS CoV-2 infections dropped below the 25,000-mark in Tamil Nadu on Thursday. A total of 24,405 people tested positive and 460 died of the infection, taking the tally of cases to 21,72,751 and toll to 25,665.
The State tested a record number of 1,79,438 samples on Thursday, taking the total number of samples tested till date to 2,81,96,279.
Coimbatore, which has been recording the highest number of COVID-19 cases in the State, saw its daily count drop below 3,000. The district reported 2,980 cases. In Chennai, 2,062 people tested positive for the virus. Three other districts in the western region continued to record move than 1,000 cases — Erode (1,671), Tiruppur (1,264) and Salem (1,253). There was a marginal rise in cases in Thanjavur as the district’s daily cases crossed 1,000. Chengalpattu and Tiruchi recorded 983 and 823 cases respectively. There were 801 cases in Namakkal.
A total of 32,221 people were discharged after treatment across the State. So far, 18,66,660 people have been discharged in the State.
The number of people under treatment for COVID-19 stood at 2,80,426. Of this, Coimbatore accounted for the most number of active cases at 37,505, followed by 28,186 in Chennai.
All the 37 districts reported deaths. There were 67 deaths in Chennai, 48 in Coimbatore and 47 in Chengalpattu. Salem recorded 33 deaths while there were 17 deaths each in Tiruvallur and Vellore.
Of the 460 deaths, 247 occurred in government hospitals. A total of 107 persons had no co-morbidities.
Among the dead were 11 persons aged in their 20s. This included a 23-year-old man from Tiruvallur, who had no co-morbidities. He was admitted to a private medical college and hospital in Kancheepuram on May 21 with complaints of fever and cough for three days and died on June 2 due to COVID-19 pneumonia.
A 24-year-old woman from Ranipet was admitted to a private medical college and hospital in Vellore on May 17 with complaints of fever for a day, cough for five days and difficulty in breathing for two days. She died on June 1 due to COVID-19 pneumonia.
A total of 30,002 beds — 11,345 oxygen-supported beds, 17,751 non-oxygen beds and 906 intensive care unit (ICU) beds — were vacant in COVID-19 hospitals and health centres in the State.
ICU beds
The occupancy of ICU beds remained high across the State. Of the total earmarked ICU beds of 10,801, a total of 9,895 were occupied. Four districts had nil ICU beds while 15 districts, including Coimbatore and Tiruppur, had less than 10 ICU beds each vacant.
Of this, Chennai accounted for 7,743 vacant beds (4,560 oxygen-supported beds, 2,922 non-oxygen beds and 261 ICU beds). Of the total 63,093 beds in COVID-19 Care Centres across the State, 38,428 beds were vacant.
815 cases in U.T.
Puducherry recorded 16 COVID-19 deaths and 815 new cases against 950 recoveries on Thursday.
Puducherry registered 12 deaths and Karaikal four taking the cumulative toll in the Union Territory to 1,583.
The patients, including nine women, were in the 40-91 age group and six had no co-morbidities.