Fresh peak in Tamil Nadu: 2,865 new Covid-19 cases in a day

CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu recorded its highest spike in fresh Covid-19 infections on Wednesday with 2,865 cases, pushing the tally to 67,468, while the official toll went up to 866 with 33 more deaths. The number of people under treatment across the state was 28,836.
With 1,654 fresh cases, Chennai remained the hotspot and its neighbours, Chengalpet (131), Kancheepuram (66), Tiruvallur (87), together logged 284 cases.On day 1 of lockdown, Madurai logged 97 cases and the case tally in the district crossed the 1,000-mark to 1,073. Among other districts, Nagapattinam had 62, Salem recorded 55, Tiruchi had 75, Vellore 51 and Tiruvannamalai 54 fresh cases.
The state tested 29,655 people including close to 8,000 in Chennai on Wednesday. “All labs have been told to increase testing. We want to ensure we isolate infected people as early as possible. In the coming days our focus will be on protecting the vulnerable and preventing deaths,” said health secretary J Radhakrishnan. The case fatality rate in the state was 1.2% on Wednesday, while the recovery rate was above 55%
The reports prepared by experts from a dozen health sub-committees to standardise prevention and treatment protocols for diabetes, hypertension, pregnant women, patients with cancer, kidney and heart related ailments were released by the chief minister on Wednesday. “These e-booklets will be available on the webpages. Information given by the experts will be used to create awareness among patients,” the health secretary said.
In addition, 91 people, including 15 passengers from Kuwait and 14 each from Delhi and Karnataka, who returned to the state tested positive on Wednesday. There were six passengers from Qatar, four from Singapore, three from Saudi Arabia and one passenger each from UAE, Malaysia and Nigeria who tested positive for the viral infection.
Among the people who succumbed to the viral infection, three people had no comorbidities; 19 of them were above the age of 60. At least six people died within 24 hours of admission and a 52-year-old woman was brought dead to the Government Royapettah hospital. An 82-year-old man with diabetes, hypertension and chronic kidney disease admitted to Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital a day after he tested positive, died within 41 minutes of admission.
The state discharged 2,424 from hospitals and home quarantine taking the total number of people who have been cured to 37,763.