CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu recorded zero fatalities due to COVID-19 for the second day on Saturday as the death toll remained unchanged at 38,023, while 105 new infections pushed the overall tally to 34,51,815, the health department said.
Recoveries eclipsed new cases with 265 people getting discharged in the last 24 hours aggregating to 34,12,491 leaving 1,301 active infections, a medical bulletin said.
Chennai added 39 new infections followed by Coimbatore 12, Chengalpet 10 while remaining districts recorded new infections in single digit.
As many as 13 districts reported zero new cases.
The state capital leads among districts with 7,50,694 infections overall.
A total of 43,127 samples were tested in the last 24 hours, pushing the cumulative number of specimens examined to 6,49,64,539.
Meanwhile, Minister for Health and Family Welfare Ma Subramanian said about 1.
33 crore people in Tamil Nadu were yet to receive the second dose of vaccination and appealed them to get inoculated without fail.
Vaccination exercise commenced in Tamil Nadu on January 16, 2021 during the previous AIADMK regime.
After inspecting the 24th edition of the Mega Vaccination Camp in the city, he said over 10 crore doses have been administered to people and claimed that only in Tamil Nadu such mass vaccination exercises were being conducted despite the low prevalence of the pathogen.
"We have directed the district administration and health officials to collect the data of people who are yet to receive their second dose of vaccination and short messaging services (SMSs) are also sent to the people concerned who need to receive the jabs. Due to the low prevalence of the virus, there is a laxity among people to get vaccinated," he told reporters.
He noted that it was necessary for people to receive the second dose of vaccination to boost their immunity as there has been a surge in COVID-19 infections in few neighbouring countries.
On the vaccination drive for 15-18 year category, he said of the total 33.46 lakh eligible people, the health department has vaccinated 28,04,930 people with the first dose and 17,92,178 beneficiaries with second dose.
As many as 6,81,467 people were vaccinated with precautionary booster doses against the targeted 8,55,129 people, he said.
To a query, Subramanian said Chief Minister M K Stalin would lay the foundation stone for a multi-specialty hospital which would be set up in the campus of King Institute of Preventive Medicine and Research at an outlay of Rs 250 crore.
The Minister said he was happy to note that Tamil Nadu has recorded zero COVID-19 fatalities and appealed members of public to extend their coordination to the government by taking the jabs.