State records marginal rise with 1,986 fresh cases

A marginal rise in fresh infections was recorded for the third day in a row in Tamil Nadu. With 1,986 people testing positive for COVID-19 on Saturday, four districts — Chengalpattu, Coimbatore, Thanjavur and Tiruvarur — saw their daily tally go up by 10 to 25 cases compared with the previous day, while cases fell in Chennai and Erode.

Compared to 1,947 cases on Friday, fresh cases went up by 39 on Saturday. Coimbatore’s daily tally continued to rise — to 246 from 230 the previous day. Chengalpattu also registered a rise from 109 to 122. In Thanjavur, as many as 124 people tested positive when compared with 105 the previous day. In Tiruvarur, daily cases increased from 28 to 53. Fluctuations in cases continued in a number of districts.

However, in Chennai, where cases were gradually increasing over the past four days, the daily count dipped marginally to 204. In Erode, cases fell from 171 to 165. There were 89 cases in Tiruvallur, 78 in Tiruppur, 70 in Tiruchi and 73 in Salem.

The cases took the State’s tally to 25,59,597. The number of samples tested increased to 1,60,897.

The State recorded another 26 deaths, taking the toll to 34,076. Chennai, along with 23 other districts, recorded no fatalities. There were six deaths in Tiruppur, four in Salem and three in Namakkal. Six of the 26 deaths were deferred reconciled death reports from Salem and Tiruppur districts. Among the deceased was a 29-year-old man from Salem who had no co-morbidities. He was admitted to the Mohan Kumaramangalam Medical College Hospital on July 26 and died on July 29 due to COVID-19 pneumonia.

As many as 2,178 people were discharged after treatment. The active caseload stood at 20,716. These included 1,940 people in Coimbatore, 1,627 in Chennai and 1,462 in Erode.

Another private laboratory — Alpha Labs in Madurai — was approved for COVID-19 testing. With this, there are 211 private testing facilities.

Vaccine update

Another 3,22,350 people were inoculated on Saturday. These included 1,89,606 people in the 18-44 age group and 97,875 people in the 45-59 age group. This took the overall coverage in government vaccination centres to 2,13,85,043. Vaccination was held in 2,408 sessions.

Chief Minister M.K. Stalin on Saturday launched a campaign to create awareness on COVID-19 prevention. An exhibition on COVID-19 was also inaugurated at Kalaivanar Arangam. Health Minister Ma. Subramanian was present.