Cause of concern: 4,531 new Covid cases in Chennai; 8,981 in Tamil Nadu – Times of India

CHENNAI: The state reported more than 2,000 new cases for the third consecutive day on Friday, when Tamil Nadu recorded 8,981 fresh cases.
At the end day after the discharge of 984 patients, there were 30,807 patients in isolation compared to 22,818 on Thursday.
Official records show 8,944 patients from within the state, five passengers from UAE, three from Singapore and one from the USA tested positive for the viral infection. In addition, 17 people from West Bengal, five from Bihar, two from Assam and one each from AP, Delhi and Jharkhand tested positive.
Chennai, which reported the sharpest increase, reported 4,531 new cases – the highest in the state – compared to 3,759 on Thursday. During the same time, cases in Chengalpet crossed the four-digit mark to 1,039 cases from 816. Barring Dharmapuri, Namakkal, Vellore and Tenkasi, all other districts reported an increase in fresh cases tally in the last 24 hours. After Chennai and Chengalpet, Tiruvallur (514), Coimbatore (408), Kancheepuram (257) and Vellore (216) reported more than 200 cases each.
Active cases increased by nearly 8,000 on Friday to 30,817. Nearly half the number of patients in isolation were from Chennai. Although only 14% of active cases in the city were in hospitals, nearly 34% of non-oxygen beds and 11% of oxygen beds in the city were occupied. Nearly 16% of beds in the city and 7% of beds in the state were occupied compared to 4% a month ago.
Director of medical education Dr Narayanababu said the state was doing its best to reserve hospital beds for patients with moderate or severe illness. “While patients with mild or no symptoms are sent to home isolation or covid care centres, those with comorbidities or moderate disease are sent to health centres. Patients with severe disease will be treated at tertiary care hospitals,” he said. Symptomatic patients who are not vaccinated are also under compulsory institutional care, he said.
The eight deaths in the state took the total toll to 36,833. Of the eight deaths, three were from Chengalpet, two were from Coimbatore and there were one each from Tiruvallur, Tirunelveli and Karur. Chennai reported zero deaths with 31 other districts. On Thursday, 4.6 lakh people including 3.3 lakh in the 15-18 years group took the vaccination on Thursday.