Tamil Nadu records over 4,000 new Covid-19 cases for sixth day

CHENNAI: For the sixth straight day, Tamil Nadu reported more than 4,000 fresh Covid-19 cases. The state on Saturday recorded 4,103 cases and 115 deaths, including 14 home deaths that occurred in Chennai at the peak of infection in May, when the city faced acute shortage of hospital beds and oxygen.
Officials said the numbers were higher in Thanjavur (26) and Chennai (20) districts as they added reconciled deaths.

Data in the state’s daily bulletin showed that while some patients died before they went to the hospital, some like a 79-year-old woman from Chennai died after an early discharge. The woman tested positive on May 21, two days after she began exhibiting symptoms. She was admitted to a private hospital and discharged, but was declared dead at her residence on May 21.
A 60-year-old man, who died on May 16 at his home, tested positive on May 11. He was in home isolation. A 49-year-old woman died at her house a day after she tested positive on May 14. “All these deaths occurred within a week or 10 days after they tested positive,” an official said. Though deaths were identified during the routine reconciliation process, officials said they could not confirm if these patients died waiting for an oxygen bed.
Meanwhile, Erode, Dindigul and Madurai reported six deaths each, and Coimbatore and Kanyakumari logged five deaths each. At least 11 districts reported zero deaths.
On Saturday, barring seven districts, all others in the state reported a drop in fresh cases compared to Friday. At the end of the day, there were 35,881 active cases. Coimbatore (474) continued to report the highest number of new cases, followed by Erode (360), Salem (251), Thanjavur (232) and Tiruppur (231). Chennai reported 227 cases, Madurai 78 and Trichy 170. Meanwhile, Nagapattinam, which reported 42 cases on Saturday, reported 32 on Friday. Vellore, Ramanathapuram, Tenkasi, Villupuram, Tirunelveli and Mayiladuthurai also reported a marginal increase.