Cases continue to dip in Chennai, but spiral in nearby districts – Times of India

Chennai News

CHENNAI: Though new infections are on the rise in Tamil Nadu, with 4,244 cases reported on Sunday, the number of active cases has remained under the 47,000-mark throughout the week.
While Chennai maintained a downward curve with 1,168 cases, fresh cases were spiraling in its three neighbouring districts of Kancheepuram, Chengalpet and Tiruvallur. Until two weeks ago, these three districts together recorded around 500 new cases every day. But on Sunday they recorded 862 cases, a 72% increase.
Tiruvallur (death rate of 1.9) with a total of 127 deaths so far has one of the highest Covid mortality rates in the state. Tamil Nadu’s death rate was 1.4.
On Sunday, 44 of the 68 deaths were reported in Chennai and its three neighbours. A 31-year-old male from Chengalpet, admitted at the local government hospital without any comorbidity, was the youngest Covid victim on Sunday.
Of 24 deaths that were reported from other districts, 12 deaths happened within 24 hours of hospitalisation. This indicates that patients were reaching out to hospitals at the last minute — a trend recorded in Chennai during the early stages of Covid spread.
“Early admission was one of the key reasons to reduce deaths in Chennai. The state is trying to replicate the same in districts where cases are on the rise now. We have almost doubled tests in districts like Madurai,” said a senior official from the Department of Public Health (DPH), TN.
Besides 1,400 beds at Government Rajaji Hospital, additional 850 beds have been set up in 21 Covid care centres in Madurai to provide effective care, the official added.
Madurai, at present, tests around 3,000 samples a day. Though the southern district has been reporting around 300 new cases every day this week, the discharge rate has been high. Therefore, the number of active cases has come down from 4.131 on July 10 to 3,372 on Sunday.
In Chennai too, the number of active cases (17,469 cases) continued to hover around the 17,000 mark. Tamil Nadu totally had 46,969 active cases.
Districts such as Virudhunagar (246 new cases) , Vellore (151), Tiruvannamalai (151), Coimbatore (117), Theni (115), Trichy (103) and Salem (98) continue to be worst-affected. The state’s Covid tally was 1,38,470.
Also, 34 air and road passengers, who returned to TN, tested positive on Sunday. So far, a total of 4,311 returnees to the state have tested positive at surveillance camps.

Source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/cases-continue-to-dip-in-city-but-spiral-in-nearby-districts/articleshow/76930049.cms