Tamil Nadu’s tally of COVID-19 cases surpassed the 18,000-mark on Wednesday as, in yet another spike, the State reported 817 new cases of the disease.
The toll increased to 133 with six more fatalities. The fresh cases took the total number of COVID-19 cases to 18,545*.
The number of persons discharged after treatment rose to 9,909, while the total number of active cases was 8,500.
Chennai’s total, with the addition of 558 cases, climbed to 12,203. The city accounted for 95 of the 133 deaths. A total of 5,800 persons were discharged after treatment in the city.
Another 567 were discharged after treatment from hospitals in the State. Among them was a 52-year-old inspector of police who was hospitalised at Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital (RGGGH) after testing positive for COVID-19 on May 7. He had symptoms of increasing breathlessness, and a CT scan showed more than 50% involvement of both lungs. His blood parameters indicated that he was in a severe cytokine storm. He was treated with high levels of oxygen, heparin and immunosuppressive drugs. Prone nursing and breathing exercises helped improve his lung condition, a press release from RGGGH said.
There were 40 new cases in Tiruvallur, 31 in Chengalpattu, 14 in Kancheepuram, 13 in Tiruvannamalai, five in Tiruvarur, four in Ariyalur, three in Tiruchi, two each in Cuddalore, Thoothukudi, and one each in Kallakurichi, Madurai, Nagapattinam, Ramanathapuram, Thanjavur and Tirupattur.
Among the six persons who died was a 39-year-old man from Chennai. He had diabetes, systemic hypertension and obesity, and was admitted to RGGGH on May 23. He died on May 26 due to cardiopulmonary arrest and COVID-19 pneumonia.
A 74-year-old woman from Chengalpattu, who was admitted to the Chengalpattu Medical College Hospital on May 11, died on May 25 due to respiratory failure and acute exacerbation of bronchial asthma, while another woman aged 78 died at RGGGH due to cardiopulmonary arrest, COVID-19 pneumonia, left ventricular dysfunction and cardiogenic shock. She had diabetes, systemic hypertension and coronary artery disease.
A 54-year-old woman from Chennai and a 51-year-old man from Tiruvallur also died at RGGGH. A 79-year-old man, who had diabetes, systemic hypertension and pulmonary tuberculosis sequelae, died within two hours of admission to RGGGH on Tuesday. He died due to cardiopulmonary arrest and COVID-19 pneumonia.
Apart from the cases within the State, 139 persons, who returned from other States, tested positive for COVID-19. Except for one person who had returned from Kerala, all the others were from Maharashtra. This included 73 persons who tested positive in Kallakurichi and 31 passengers who had returned in a special train from Mumbai to Tirunelveli and were under railway quarantine.
Till now, a total of 1,122 children aged 0 to 12 have tested positive for COVID-19. Among the new patients were three one-month-old babies. A total of 1,627 persons aged above 60 have tested positive till date.
A total of 11,231 samples were tested, taking the total number of samples tested so far to 4,42,970. Testing of 650 samples is under process. Two more testing facilities have been approved for COVID-19 testing — the Government Headquarters Hospital, Dindigul, and Krsnaa Diagnostics Private Limited, Coimbatore. With this, there are a total of 42 government labs and 28 private labs in the State, according to the bulletin issued by the Directorate of Public Health and Preventive Medicine.
(*This is inclusive of two deaths cross-notified to other States and one patient who died after testing negative for the infection)
