Tamil Nadu’s daily count of COVID-19 cases stayed above the 500-mark for the fourth day in a row. A total of 556 persons tested positive for the infection in the State, taking the overall tally to 8,55,677.
Chennai, Chengalpattu and Coimbatore accounted for 57% of the cases. There were 229 cases in Chennai followed by 48 in Coimbatore and 46 in Chengalpattu. While Tiruvallur recorded 29 cases, there were 19 cases in Tiruvarur, 18 in Tiruppur and 16 in Thanjavur. Kancheepuram and Salem had 15 cases each, while Kanyakumari reported 14 cases.
While Kallakurichi and Perambalur had no new cases, 22 districts had fewer than 10 cases each. The fresh cases included a returnee from the United Arab Emirates.
The number of active cases crossed 4,000 again. As of date, 4,018 persons were under treatment of which 1,866 persons were in Chennai. Another 532 persons were discharged after treatment, taking the total number of persons discharged till date to 8,39,138.
The State reported three fatalities — two in private hospitals and one in a government hospital. There were two deaths in Chennai and one in Coimbatore. One of them, a 62-year-old woman from Coimbatore, was admitted to a private hospital in Erode on March 4 with complaints of cough and difficulty in breathing for a day and loose stools. She died on March 7 due to acute respiratory distress syndrome and COVID-19 pneumonia.
Till date, 12,521 persons, including 4,166 in Chennai, have succumbed to the infection.
As many as 54,325 samples were tested in the last 24 hours. With this, 1,79,00,716 samples have been tested in the State.
Vaccine update
In the highest daily coverage, over one lakh persons — a little over 40% of them aged above 60 years — were vaccinated on Monday. A total of 1,10,251 persons were inoculated, taking the State’s total coverage so far to 9,58,327.
A total of 47,535 senior citizens, 26,787 persons aged 45 to 59 years with comorbidiites, 25,486 frontline and 10,443 healthcare workers received the vaccines. Of this, 46,338 persons aged above 60 years, 26,231 persons with comorbidities, 24,979 frontline and 9,864 healthcare workers received Covishield.
Covaxin was administered to 1,197 senior citizens, 556 persons with comorbidities, 507 frontline and 579 healthcare workers.
With this, a total of 4,22,902 healthcare and 2,44,789 frontline workers, 1,06,187 persons aged 45 to 59 years with comorbidities, 1,84,449 senior citizens were vaccinated till date.
