Tamil Nadu achieves milestone as RT-PCR tests for Covid-19 cross 5 million

Tamil Nadu achieved a milestone in

testing for coronavirus with the overall samples examined so far crossing the 50 lakh mark while 5,892 fresh cases took the infection count to 4,45,851 on Thursday.

The day also saw 92 more fatalities pushing the death toll to 7,608, the Health department said.

The active cases in the state stood at 52,070.

In line with the thrust on testing as a key measure in the battle against the pandemic, Tamil Nadu has been among the states with high number of tests.

On Thursday, a total of 82,901 samples were examined, taking the cumulative number of specimens tested to 50,47,042, a bulletin issued by the health department said.

Tamil Nadu does not use Rapid Antigen Diagnostic Tests and all the tests conducted so far are RT-PCR (Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction based), considered the gold standard to detect COVID-19.

The number of recoveries continued to outnumber fresh infections with 6,110 people walking out of various hospitals on Thursday, taking the total number of those cured of the disease to 3,86,173.

The fresh cases in the state capital slipped below the four digit mark to 968 after several days as the total count rose to 1,38,724, the bulletin said.

Coimbatore and Cuddalore saw a sharp spike in new cases with 593 and 590 people testing positive respectively.

The neighbouring districts Chengalpet, Thiruvallur and Kancheepuram cumulatively recorded 786 new COVID-19 cases.

Several interior districts, including Dindigul, Erode, Kallakurichi, Pudukottai, Thanjavur, Thiruvannamalai, Tirunelveli, Tirupur, Vellore, Villupuram and Virudhunagar logged over 100 cases.

Among the 92 fatalities, which included two in their 90s, as many as 58 were recorded in government hospitals and the rest in private health care institutions.

Nine of those dead were without comorbidities, the bulletin said, adding a 39-year old man from the city died at a private hospital due to COVID-19 pneumonia.

Chennai topped the list in the fatalities accounting for 29 of the fresh deaths while the overall share stood at 2,814.

As many as 37 of the 5,892 new cases were returnees from various states, the bulletin said.