CHENNAI: In a new high, the State recorded 6,472 new Covid-19 positive cases on Thursday, while a whopping 60,375 tests were also conducted on the day. As many as 88 people succumbed to the infection on Thursday, taking the State’s toll to 3,232.
Eleven of the 88 victims did not have any co-morbid conditions. Meanwhile, as many as 84 people, including security personnel and fire service staff who are working in Raj Bhavan tested positive for the infection on Thursday.
Following this, as a precautionary measure entire Raj Bhavan premises has been disinfected and sanitized by Corporation Health authorities. While Chennai district alone recorded 1,336 cases and 11 deaths, its neighbouring districts Chengalpattu, Kancheepuram and Tiruvallur recorded 375, 330, and 416 cases respectively. Health Department data from March till July 21, shared exclusively with Express, has revealed that Chengalpattu district has the highest positivity rate - 19.83 per cent - in the State.
TN’s ‘testing per million’ figures twice the national average
Chennai district recorded 17.77 per cent positivity rate, while the State figure stood at 9.07 per cent against the national average of 8.30 per cent. Virudhunagar (14.13 per cent), Ramanathapuram (11.71 per cent) and Ranipet (11.65 percent) districts recorded positivity rates higher than the national average. In total, 19 districts in the State have recorded a positivity rate of above 5 per cent. Experts point out that a positivity of 5 per cent or less indicates that the infection spread is under control.
The data also noted that Tamil Nadu’s tests per million is 24,262, over twice the national figure of 10,421.Chennai and 12 other districts have surpassed the Tamil Nadu figure on this front. Chennai has conducted 68,028 tests per million, Kanniyakumari 38,542, Theni 32,624, The Nilgiris 29,238, Tirunelveli 28,871, Tiruvannmalai 27,423, Madurai 27,423, Vellore 26,490, Erode, 26,443, Thanjavur 25,990, Thoothukudi 25,948, Coimbatore 25,068 and Chengalpattu 24,544.
According to the data, incidence of the disease per million population in Chennai and five other districts was higher than the Tamil Nadu figure of 2,200. Chennai, with an incidence per million of 12,086, tops the list and is followed by Chengalpattu (4,867), Kancheepuram (3,287), Tiruvallur (2,822), Madurai (2,428) and Vellore (2,395). Tamil Nadu has tested 21,57,869 samples and 20,75,522 people so far, according to the media bulletin issued by the Directorate of Public Health.