Tamil Nadu reports 5,692 COVID-19 cases, 66 deaths with fatality rate of 1.2 per cent

Chennai records more than 1,000 cases after a gap of 22 days.
Chennai corporation collecting swabs from migrant workers who are working at a construction site at OMR (File Photo | Ashwin Prasath, EPS)
Chennai corporation collecting swabs from migrant workers who are working at a construction site at OMR (File Photo | Ashwin Prasath, EPS)

CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu’s COVID-19 fatality rate has fallen from 1.4 per cent to 1.2 per cent, Health Minister C Vijayabaskar said on Thursday, even as the state reported 5,692 new cases and 66 deaths, taking the tally to 5,63,691 and toll to 9,076. 

For the first time in 22 days, Chennai reported more than 1,000 new cases.

The capital recorded 1,089 cases, the first time the number of new cases has crossed the 1,000-mark since September 2 when 1,025 cases were reported. 

Tamil Nadu entered an almost complete ‘unlock’ mode from the first week of September. 

The state tested 90,607 samples and 88,784 people, the highest number of tests done in a day so far. One more private lab, Bioline Laboratory C/O SKS Hospital in Salem has been approved for COVID-19 testing recently, according to the media bulletin issued by the Directorate of Public Health.

​Only eight of the deceased did not have any comorbid conditions. 

Meanwhile, speaking to reporters after an inspection in Chennai, Vijayabaskar said that less than 10 per cent of the State’s Covid patients were currently undergoing treatment. 

"This is because of the aggressive testing, contact tracing and isolation of patients. Tamil Nadu is the only State in the country, which has been doing more than 80,000 RT-PCR tests per day," he said. 

According to the minister, Tamil Nadu has so far spent Rs 831 crores on Covid prevention and control measures.

The health minister said opposition parties should acknowledge that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has appreciated the State for conducting the highest number of RT-PCR tests in the country and instructing other States to follow Tamil Nadu’s example.

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