Fresh COVID-19 infections in the State continued to register a slide with fewer than 25,000 cases diagnosed on Saturday.
A total of 24,414 persons tested positive, taking the overall number of cases to 33,03,702. Among those who arrived from abroad, two travellers from Bangladesh and one each from the United Arab Emirates and Qatar tested positive.
In Chennai district too, cases fell significantly in the past 24 hours. With another 4,508 persons testing positive in a day, the number of infections to date in the district rose to 7,25,459. As on date, 6,77,734 have been declared to have recovered from the virus post-treatment.
Currently 38,799 persons are undergoing treatment either at home or in healthcare institutions. So far, 8,926 persons have succumbed to the infection.
Among the neighbouring districts, Chengalpattu has registered the highest tally, logging 1,614 fresh cases. In Kancheepuram, 512 fresh cases were identified and in Tiruvallur 640 more tested positive for the virus.
Though western districts also reported lower infections as compared to Friday, fresh cases were relatively high in Salem, which reported 1,264 cases.
Erode logged 1,198 and Tiruppur 1,649. Coimbatore had the highest number of fresh cases with 3,309 testing positive for the virus.
Of the 46 new deaths recorded, 20 were being treated in private healthcare facilities and 26 in government hospitals.
Till date, 37,506 persons have succumbed to the infection in the State. In a day 27,885 persons returned home after treatment, taking the number of recoveries to 30,57,846. The health department has temporarily removed a private laboratory in R.S. Puram West in Coimbatore from the ICMR list of approved labs for COVID-19 testing due to “administrative reasons,” the daily bulletin of the public health department stated.
At present, there are 330 functioning testing facilities, including 69 in the government sector and 261 in the private sector.
