Tamil Nadu records 5,883 new COVID-19 cases; 118 deaths

Chennai,  Inching towards the three lakh mark in COVID-19 tally, Tamil Nadu on Saturday recorded 5,883 fresh cases while 118 deaths saw the toll climbing to 4,808, the Health Department said.

Tamil Nadu’s tally mounted to 2,90,907 while that of the state capital to 1,08,124 with the addition of 986 cases, the second day in a row it logged less than 1,000, a bulletin issued by the department said.

On Friday, the city recorded new cases in three digits (984) for the first time after a gap of nearly two months.

This is the tenth straight day the state’s daily cases, which peaked to its highest of 6,993 on July 27, stood below the 6,000 mark.

Recoveries remained high with 5,043 people being discharged from various hospitals after successful treatment, taking the cumulative recoveries to 2,32,618.

The bulletin said 67,553 specimens were tested as the aggregate till date rose to 31,55,619.

Among the new infections, 17 were returnees from various domestic locations, bulletin said.

As many as nine of the patients who succumbed to the virus were without comorbidities.

A 52-year old woman from the city who died, did not have comorbidity. She had complained of breathing difficulty for a day and died due to cardiopulmonary arrest.

She was admitted on August 7 at Southern Railway Headquarters hospital here with complaints of difficulty in breathing and died the same day, the bulletin said.

A 35-year old man from neighbouring Thiruvallur with complaints of fever and difficulty in breathing for three days was admitted on August 5 and died on August 6 due to cardiopulmonary arrest/respiratory failure, the bulletin said.

With comorbidity, a 29 year old woman who was COVID-19 positive with gestational diabetes was brought dead to a private hospital in the city.

As many as 10 of those succumbed to the virus were below the age of 40 years, the bulletin said.

Among the districts, Chennai recorded 986 new cases, while neighbouring Kancheepuram, Tiruvallur and Chengalpet collectively saw an increase of 1,100 fresh infections.

Theni recorded 452 new infections while Virudhunagar and Tuticorin reported 246 and 245 respectively.

Dharmapuri reported the least number of new cases with 21 people contracting the contagion taking the tally in the district to 851 so far.

Perambalur has the least number of COVID-19 cases at 686 till date, the bulletin said.

Coimbatore, Kanyakumari, Cuddalore, Ranipet, Tirunelveli also saw their daily COVID-19 cases go up by more than 100 new cases, the bulletin said.