Tamil Nadu registers 3,971 new Covid cases, 28 deaths – Times of India

CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu continued to report a fall in fresh cases on Wednesday when it added 3,971 new cases compared to 4519 on Tuesday. The 28 deaths took the toll tally to 37,837. By the end of the day, 16473 people were removed from the registry and the state had 77,607 active cases.
“The incidence is coming down and we have fewer people in hospitals. But many elderly particularly the unvaccinated and those with comorbid conditions continue to have a severe form of the disease. They require hospitalizations including ICU admissions,” said health minister Ma Subramanian.
Whole-genome sequencing data released by the public health lab show that nearly 97% of the infections from the samples drawn on January 26 were Omicron variants compared to 12% on December 11 and 63% on December 25. “Even among people infected by the Omicron variant, elderly and unvaccinated people require oxygen therapy and intensive care,” said health secretary J Radhakrishnan.
More than 80% of the dead are above 60 years. “More than 1.10crore people are due for the second dose of the vaccine. The mega vaccination drives are organized with these people as primary targets,” he said. Of the 7.5 lakh people who are due for booster doses, the state has covered 4.57 lakh and among the 15-18 age group 80% have taken the first dose and 22% have taken the second dose, he said. On Thursday, 1.09 lakh people above 15 years took the vaccination against Covid-19.
Barring Kallakurichi, all districts in the state reported a drop in new cases compared to their Tuesday tally. While Chennai (742) and Coimbatore (726) reported the highest number of cases followed by Chengalpet (334), fresh cases in all other districts were below 250 each. With nine new cases, Perambalur reported the least number of cases followed by Tenkasi (10), Mayiladuthurai (11), and Tirupathur (15).
Of the 28 deaths, there were six in Chennai, four in Kancheepuram, three each in Coimbatore, Cuddalore, Madurai, and Tuticorin, two in Trichy and one each in Tiruppur, Tiruvallur, Thanjavur, and Virudhunagar.
Weekly TPR drops to 13.2% in Puducherry
The Union territory of Puducherry reported 198 fresh cases even as 538 patients recovered in the last 24 hours ending at 10am on Wednesday bringing down the number of active cases to 3,086. Of them, 3,012 are under home isolation and treatment while the rest 74 are in hospitals.
Puducherry headquarters reported the maximum fresh cases with 135 followed by Karaikal (33), Yanam (42) and Mahe (6). Puducherry headquarters has the maximum active cases with 2,024 followed by Karaikal (885), Yanam (147) and Mahe (30).
An 81-year-old man from Puducherry and an 85-year-old woman from Mahe died of the infection taking the death toll to 1,955. The positivity rate of the samples (2,322) tested on Wednesday stood at 8.5%, which is more than the national average of 4.5%.
The weekly positivity rate of the infection, which was hovering around 30% a few days ago, dropped to 13.2% on Wednesday. Still, the rate is higher than the national average of 7.6%.
Healthcare authorities have so far tested 21.82 lakh swab samples of which 18.28 lakh samples returned negative. They have so far administered 15.5 lakh doses of Covid-19 vaccine. They have so far administered the first dose to 9.25 lakh people, the second dose to 6.14 lakh people and the precaution dose to 10,076.