45% of cases from five western districts, Chennai – The Hindu

Five western districts, along with Chennai, accounted for 45% of the fresh COVID-19 cases reported in Tamil Nadu on Friday. The State logged 5,755 cases and 150 deaths, taking the tally to 24,55,332 and toll to 32,051.

Chennai reported fewer deaths than three districts — Coimbatore, Vellore and Tiruppur. There were 11 deaths in the city, while 26 people died in Coimbatore, 16 in Vellore and 13 in Tiruppur.

The State has been registering a gradual decline in fresh cases over the past few weeks. As cases dipped below 6,000, 19 of the 37 districts reported fewer than 100 infections each.

Among the western districts, Coimbatore recorded 698 cases, followed by Erode with 597. There were 398 cases in Salem, 361 in Tiruppur and 228 in Namakkal. In Chennai, 350 people tested positive for the infection. Three other districts had 200-plus cases — Chengalpattu (251), Thanjavur (277) and Tiruchi (220).

The State’s active caseload stood at 47,318. Of these, 6,721 people are in Coimbatore, 4,695 in Erode and 3,611 in Chennai. A total of 8,132 people were discharged after treatment across the State.

Of the 150 deceased, 125 had co-morbidities. They included an 18-year-old from Kanniyakumari, who had seizure disorder and cerebral palsy, and was admitted to the Kanyakumari Medical College Hospital on June 22. She died on June 24 due to COVID-19 pneumonia.

A 23-year-old man from Ranipet was admitted to a private medical college hospital in Vellore on May 29 with complaints of fever for three days, cough for four days and breathlessness for two days. He died on June 22 due to COVID-19 pneumonia.

A total of 1,71,117 samples were tested in the last 24 hours, taking the total figure to 3,20,17,144.

Over 4 lakh vaccinated

For the second day in a row, over four lakh people were vaccinated. A total of 4,29,001 people, including 2,57,859 in the 18-44 age group and 1,27,601 aged 45 to 59, received the vaccines.

The overall coverage rose to 1,36,88,229.