CHENNAI: The number of daily COVID-19 fatalities in Tamil Nadu soared to a new high on Saturday, with 99 more people dying of the virus, while the state recorded 5,879 fresh cases. With 1074 new cases, Chennai’s tally touched 1,00,877.
With this, the tally in Tamil Nadu is 2,51,738, while the toll is 4,034. Of the deaths recorded on Saturday, 27 are from Chennai and 10 each from Madurai and Coimbatore.
The recovery rate too is high in the state as 7,010 were discharged, taking the total number discharged to 1,90,966, which is higher than the 56,738 active cases.
Among those who died, 90 had co-morbidities and the majority were aged above 60. Among those with co-morbidities, most had diabetes and hypertension.
While Chennai is now just contributing one-fifth of the state’s total cases, the cause for concern comes from the rising cases in the districts, especially those neighbouring the city.
Kancheepuram, Chengalpettu, Tiruvallur and Vellore, which are close to Chennai, have together contributed 1184 cases, slightly higher than the city’s tally itself. Theni, Tiruvannamalai, and Virudhunagar show an upward trend in cases.
With 60,580 tests done on Saturday, the total number of people tested across the 121 labs in the state is 26,18,512. The state’s positivity rate is at 9.6 percent.