Tamil Nadu reports 8,183 new coronavirus cases, 180 deaths; TPR at 5%

Tamil Nadu recorded 8,183 fresh Covid-19 cases on Saturday, including three returnees from Andhra Pradesh and Bihar, while 180 deaths took the toll to 31,015

Tamil Nadu recorded 8,183 fresh

COVID-19 cases on Saturday, including three returnees from Andhra Pradesh and Bihar, pushing the caseload to 24.14 lakh, while 180 deaths took the toll to 31,015.

Recoveries continued to outnumber new cases with 18,232 people being discharged, taking the tally to 23,04,885,leaving 78,780 active cases, a health department bulletin said.

Tamil Nadu recorded its highest daily cases at 36,184 on May 21 and since then has been reporting a declining trend.

The daily case count dropped below 10,000 on June 17.

The decline in numbers also reflected in the Test Positivity Rate, with Minister for Medical and Family Welfare Ma Subramanian saying that the TPR now stood at five per cent in Tamil Nadu, compared to 8-9 per cent in other states.

Coimbatore was the only district to report over 1,000 cases today, adding 1,014 infections, while the remaining were scattered across other districts.

As many as 26 districts, including the state capital, reported new cases in triple digits and 10 in double figures.

Chennai registered 468 new infections, aggregating 5,28,768 till date.

The number of COVID-19 related fatalities in Chennai as of date stood at 8,032.

A total of 1,71,179 samples were tested in the last 24 hours, pushing the cumulative number of specimens examined so far to 3,09,96,798.

Of the deceased, 45 did not have any co morbidities.

Earlier in the day, Subramanian said that after a 40 day gap, the TPR in Tamil Nadu stood at five per cent, compared to between 8-9 per cent in other states.

"Tamil Nadu reported the highest number of new infections on May 21 with the daily infection tally reaching 36,184.

After a gap of about 40 days, it dropped to 8,633 yesterday. The government has been taking various measures to bring down the virus spread," he told reporters.

He said more awareness programmes conducted by the government had resulted in a lot more people coming forward to take the shots.

"We received 1.22 crore doses of vaccine and 1.14 crore people have received the shots so far.

We have about 5.56 lakh doses in stock and another three lakh doses are expected to arrive", he said.

To a query on 'Black Fungus' disease, he said till June 18, 2,382 people had been affected, of whom 111 had recovered and been discharged from hospitals.

Asked whether the treatment for it would be covered under the Chief Minister's Health Insurance Scheme, aimed at benefiting a large number of BPL families, he said a decision would soon be taken on that.

On the possibilities of a third wave of COVID-19, he said the government wished that it should not recur, but was adequately prepared to deal with any eventuality.

"Already we have stepped up measures (in case of third wave) by strengthening the medical infrastructure -- adding additional beds and also appointing 2,000 doctors and 6,000 nurses," he said.