Covid-19 cases top 1,000 in Chennai again, 117 deaths in Tamil Nadu

CHENNAI: Covid-19 cases in Chennai crossed the 1,000-mark on a day Tamil Nadu reported 5,890 fresh cases and 117 deaths. By the end of Friday, the case tally touched 3,26,245, the toll reached 5,514 and 53,716 people were still under treatment.


Chennai, the worst-affected district, recorded 25 deaths and 1,187 fresh cases.

At least one in five fresh cases in the state was from Chennai. On August 7, cases in Chennai dropped to 984 more than two months after it began reporting daily infections in four digits. On June 3, the city reported fresh cases in four digits for the first time after recording 816 cases the previous day. For one day on June 16, the city reported 919 infections. On June 30, when Chennai reported its highest incidence with 2,393 cases, it had 61% of the 3,943 daily cases reported in the state.

On Friday, the neighbouring districts – Chengalpet (437), Tiruvallur (495) and Kancheepuram (315) -- reported 1,247 cases and 16 deaths. The Chennai region reported 2,434 cases compared to 2,075 on Thursday. The deaths increased to 41 from 35 on Thursday.

The seven other districts in the north added 878 cases and 22 deaths. Four of them – Cuddalore (221), Ranipet (178), Vellore (178) and Villupuram (127) -- reported cases in three digits. While Tiruvannamalai and Tirupathur reported 81 and 63 cases, Kallakuruchi recorded 30 infections. Together, the 11 northern districts reported 56% of the total cases and 53% of deaths. The active cases in the northern zone increased to 30,172 including 11,209 in Chennai.

The 10 districts in the south saw a marginal drop in the number of cases and deaths. The deaths in the region dropped to 32 and the fresh cases came down to1,166 compared to1,538 cases and 37 deaths on Thursday. Madurai (46) recorded the lowest number of cases in the region while Theni topped the table with 367 cases. At least, 3,218 samples were tested on Friday and the highest number of positive cases were reported from the Bodinaickanur block.

Among other districts, Dindigul (138), Kanyakumari (128), Tirunelveli (117), Virudhunagar (90), Tenkasi (93) reported high incidence compared to Sivaganga (70), Ramanathapuram (57) and Tuticorin (60). With eight deaths, Theni recorded the highest number of fatalities on Friday. The active cases in the region came down to12,843 compared to 13,163 on Thursday.

The central zone reported 546 cases compared to 856 in the west. The central zone has seen a dip from 691 cases on Thursday, while the west saw an increase from 660. Coimbatore reported 385 cases, while Salem (191) and Erode (128) reported cases in three digits.