 "coronavirus")
Tamil Nadu on Tuesday reported
5,546 new COVID-19 cases, inching towards six lakh tally while the death toll moved closer to 10,000 mark with 70 more fatalities.
In view of a string of measures taken to combat the virus, the state's recovery rate was above 90.50 per cent while the mortality rate "pretty low" at 1.60 per cent, Chief Minister K Palaniswami said.
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Of the fresh infections, Chennai logged 1,277, nearby Chengelpet and Tiruvallur 330 and 279 respectively, a health department bulletin said.
The total positive cases stood at 5,91,943, of which the state capital accounted for 1,66,029.
A 26-year old woman, two men in their 30s, and two nonagenarians were among those succumbed to the deadly virus and in total 66 of the 70 had co-morbidities.
The death toll mounted to 9,453, including 3,195 from Chennai, Coimbatore 425, Chengelpet 551 and Tiruvallur 545.
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Active cases were 46,281 with 5,501 patients getting discharged from various hospitals and 5,36,209 people have recovered till date, the bulletin said.
A total of 85,997 RT-PCR samples were tested and cumulatively, 72,67,122 specimens had been examined. There are 186 COVID-19 testing labs, including 66 in the government sector.
Addressing a virtual meet of district collectors from the state secretariat, the Chief Minister said though Tamil Nadu had a low mortality rate, it needed to be further reduced and district collectors, in consultation with health officials, should intensify measures to make it happen.
Specialty drugs to treat COVID like tocilizumab, remdesvir and enoxaparin have been stocked in government hospitals.
So far Rs 7,323 crore has been spent on prevention, treatment and relief for the coronavirus pandemic, he said.
Towards medical expenditure Rs 1,983 crore and Rs 5,340 crore for relief has been spent, he added.
As many as 1,40,091 beds, including those in COVID care centres and 6,492 ventilators were available, he noted.
Palaniswami appealed to the people to continue to extend full cooperation to the government's efforts to tackle the pandemic.
