CHENNAI: The State’s COVID-19 tally has crossed the 5000-mark, within a couple of months of the first case being reported on March 7. With 580 new cases on Thursday and two deaths reported in Chennai, the tally rose to 5,409 and death toll to 37. As many as 316 new cases are in Chennai.
All fresh cases are contacts of already positive patients, a media bulletin said. Tamil Nadu currently has 3,822 active cases with 2,281 in Chennai. The Koyambedu stamp was once again evident in several new cases. Ambattur, which had no cases until April 21, had recorded 105 till Thursday. A Corporation official said, “A total of 80 of the 105 cases in Ambattur are owing to the Koyambedu cluster.”
The deceased include a 56-year-old woman from Tiruvallur, who died at 4.30 pm on Wednesday at Government Kilpauk Medical College Hospital. The other, a 48-year-old woman from Chennai, died early on Thursday at Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital. Though the State took 36 days to cross the 1,000 mark initially, it has now taken only two days to add 1,000 fresh cases.
On April 12, as many as 1,075 cases were reported in the State. In little more than two weeks, the number touched 2,058 on April 28. The cases then started increasing exponentially and on May 3, it reached 3,023. In a shocking rise, the tally came to 4,058 in the next two days and crossed the 5,000-mark in the next two.