TN COVID death toll 103; cases cross 15,000

CHENNAI: With 759 cases of COVID-19 reported on Saturday, the total tally in Tamil Nadu crossed the 15,000 mark. Of the new 759 cases of COVID-19, 624 cases are reported from Chennai alone.

Among the fresh cases, 49 of them arrived in TN from various places, including Maharashtra, UP, Telangana, Delhi, WB, Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh. Passengers from London and Philippines also tested positive in exit tests. So far, 74 returnees from other countries tested positive, of which 38 initially tested negative and turned positive during exit screening.

The death toll stands at 103 as five more succumbed on Saturday. All deaths were reported in several hospitals in Chennai, taking the numbers here to 72, highest in TN. There are 5,965 active cases in the city and 7,915 across the State. Chengalpattu reported 39 new cases, while Tiruvallur and Kancheepuram reported 17 and 13 cases respectively. Six cases were reported in Tiruvannamalai, four in Villupuram, two in Tenkasi, while Madurai, Cuddalore, Ranipet, Pudukkottai and Theni recorded one case each. Coimbatore, Dharmapuri, Namakkal and Tirupur still remain COVID-free. Saturday also marked the fourth straight day the State has reported over 700 COVID-19 cases. On May 22, it had recorded 786; on May 21, it saw 776 cases; on May 20, it witnessed 743. According to the Health Department, 3,97,340 samples were taken for testing of which 12,155 samples were tested in the past 24 hours.

With the lockdown having completed 60 days on Saturday, Tamil Nadu, which initially started off slow with regard to number of corona cases, now stands at the second position pan India. “First it was the Delhi cluster, followed by lockdown within lockdown. Then the Koyambedu cluster and now doctors are getting infected daily,” said former Chennai Mayor and Saidapet legislator M Subramanian.

The State, dubbed to be the medical capital of India, was initially almost neck-and-neck with Kerala as it also had low infection rate and single-digit mortality, but by the second week of April, Tamil Nadu was on a par with Maharashtra and Delhi as the number of infections had shot up at an alarming rate.