CHENNAI: Six Tamil Nadu districts are now recording an average of more than 1,000 cases daily since May 8.
According to data shared by the Health Department with The New Indian Express, Chennai, Coimbatore, Chengalpet, Tiruvallur, Madurai and Trichy districts are recording more than 1,000 cases daily.
Chennai's daily average is the highest at 6,872. However, lately, cases in the city have come down to close to 6,000.
In Coimbatore, the average is 2,828, and it is 1,080 in Tiruchy and 1,170 in Madurai. In Chennai's neighbouring districts, the daily average of cases is 2,261 in Chengalpet and 1,448 in Tiruvallur.
This means Chennai, Chengalpet and Tiruvallur alone are recording an average of close to 10,000 cases (33 percent approximately) a day out of the 30,000 odd cases in Tamil Nadu.
An analysis of the weekly rise in cases shows that these districts have shown an increase in cases between May 11 and 17, compared to May 4 and May 10.
Between May 4 and 10, Chennai recorded 47,060 cases while in the next week, it recorded 47,596.
However, it is to be noted that the city’s case growth has slowed down from 3 percent on May 10 to 1.3 percent on May 17. This indicates the slowing down of the speed of transmission and that discharges are more than fresh cases.
On the other hand, Coimbatore recorded at least 5,000 more cases in the second week at 20,872, compared to the first week, when it recorded 15,114.
Chengalpet, Tiuvallur, Madurai, Kancheepuram and Thoothukudi districts too continue to show a marginal rise in cases.
Virologist Jacob John says TN is just about turning the curve downwards and the data suggests that cases may come down further. “The momentum of cases had already peaked compared to data from last week and this week, and it is slowing down,” he added.
Dr. John added that the government can even reconsider the extension of the lockdown.
Health department officials say that the new lockdown measures and strict enforcement of it by police officials will show a massive change in the coming weeks.
“Except Coimbatore, the case growth is not massive in any of the other districts. In Chennai too, it is being contained and cases are decreasing despite tests being higher,” the official said, pointing out that people staying indoors and vaccination drives too will aid in slowing down the infection's progress.