Chennai’s daily case count dips below 1k mark

CHENNAI/NEWDELHI: Daily cases of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) in Chennai on Friday dropped below the 1,000-mark for the only second time in the last two months, even cases continued to soar in Tamil Nadu with the state reporting 119 new deaths — the highest single day deaths so far.

Chennai recorded 984 fresh cases on Friday.

Daily cases in the state capital appear to have hit a plateau, much like they have in Delhi and Mumbai. The three metropolitan cities are the three cities with the largest number of total cases in the country.

For the week ending July 3, Chennai reported 2,143 new cases every day at an average. This number has since dropped to 1,061 new cases every day in the past week.

The city had last recorded 809 cases on June 2, and from the next day, the infection count crossed the 1,000-mark, until now. Tamil

Nadu’s case count Friday touched 285,024 with over 5,800 new infections.

The state was among four states— Gujarat, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana— directed by Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan to analyse the factors driving the high Covid-19 mortality rate and devise ways to reduce it. These states also account for 17% of India’s active cases. According to the health ministry, the districts of Chennai, Kanchipuram, Ranipet, Theni, Thiruvallur, Tiruchirappalli,

Tuticorin and Virudhnagar are reporting the maximum number of fatalities in Tamil Nadu.

“The districts were advised to ensure that the advisories, guidelines and clinical treatment protocols issued by the Health Ministry are implemented to reduce the mortality among Covid-19 patients and other preventable deaths among all sections of the people, particularly those with co-morbidities, pregnant women, the elderly and children,” said a health ministry official.