Tamil Nadu sees 2,205 fresh Covid cases, 43 fatalities in past 24 hours

Tamil Nadu has reported 43 deaths and 2,205 new cases of COVID-19, the Health Department said on Saturday.

Of the fresh cases, two were those of returnees from Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal, said the department.

The new cases pushed the tally till date to 25,33,323 and the number of fatalities so far to 33,695.

Recoveries outnumbered the new infections with 2,802 people getting discharged, aggregating to 24,71,038 leaving 28,590 active cases, according to bulletin.

Thirty-one districts reported new infections in double digits and 18 districts saw nil deaths.

Chennai recorded 137 new infections and took the count to 5,36,032 and the toll of fatalities to 8,292 with six deaths over the last 24 hours.

Among the districts, Coimbatore reported the maximum of 241 cases and Perambalur least with 12.

A total of 1,45,814 samples were tested in the last 24 hours, pushing the cumulative number of specimens examined to 3,54,14,538 till date. Of the 43 fatalities, 30 were reported from government hospitals and the rest from private ones. Eleven people died but had no co-morbidity or pre-existing illness, the bulletin said.

Meanwhile, Minister for Medical and Family Welfare Ma Subramanian told reporters that the Tamil Nadu government has proposed to the Centre to set up another All-India Institute of Medical Sciences College in Coimbatore besides the one proposed for Madurai.

The Centre has promised to consider the proposal, the Minister said.

On the vaccination programme, he said the State has received 1.77 crore doses of vaccines and 1.76 crore people have been vaccinated.

"We have 4,15 lakh doses in stock," he pointed out.