NE NEWS SERVICE
CHENNAI, APR 24
Tamil Nadu on Saturday continued to witness a rise in new COVID-19 infections with 14,842 pushing the caseload to 10,66,329 while 80 fatalities took the toll to 13,475, said the Health Department.
#TamilNadu #COVID19Update | 24.04.2021
State Dashboard @MoHFW_INDIA @RAKRI1 @DoHFWTN @TNDPHPM @pibchennai @TNDME1 @TNGOVDIPR #tn_together_againstcorona #stopcoronatn pic.twitter.com/NrNcl178Yt— National Health Mission – Tamil Nadu (@NHM_TN) April 24, 2021
Recoveries mounted to 9,52,186 with 9,142 patients being discharged, leaving 1,00,668 active infections.
Till date, the State capital continued to constitute the bulk of the total cases accounting for 4,086 new infections, totalling 3,05,570. The metropolis leads in the number of fatalities so far with 4,538 people succumbing to the virus.
The number of samples tested today were 1,25,718 pushing the cumulative number of specimens examined so far to 2,18,80,174.
Chengalpet added 1,163 new infections while Coimbatore 1,004.
As many as 28 districts clocked new infections in triple digits: Cuddalore 205, Dharmapuri 182, Dindigul 269, Erode 392, Kancheepuram 454, Kanyakumari 224, Karur 119, Krishnagiri 319, Madurai 596, Nagapattinam 113, Namakkal 216, Ramanathapuram 105, Ranipet 248, Salem 490, Tenkasi 160, Thanjavur 310, Theni 137, Tirupathur 110, Thiruvallur 793, Thiruvannamalai 377, Tiruvarur 163, Tuticorin 388, Tirunelveli 525, Tiruppur 316, Tiruchirappalli 302, Vellore 305, Villupuram 205 and Virudhunagar 168, the bulletin said.
Among the 80 deceased, 13 of them, including a 37-year- old man from Thiruvannamlai succumbed to the virus, without any pre-existing illness. As many as 43 of them who tested positive today were returnees from various destinations, the bulletin said.
Meanwhile, Health Secretary J Radhakrishnan appealed to people not to panic and throng hospitals to take up COVID-19 test if they have any symptoms of the pathogen.
Elaborating, he said if a patient suspects he might be infected he may visit the 12 COVID-screening centres operating in Chennai and let the doctors, after collecting the samples, decide whether treatment can be given at home or hospital.
Allaying fears over shortage of hospital beds, he said currently 40 per cent of beds were lying vacant in the State and added that of the total cases reported as of Friday (13,776), 50.8 per cent of the COVID-19 affected were under home quarantine.
“As many as 24,569 people (as of Friday) are in hospitals who are treated as sensitive cases,” he said. Reiterating his appeal to the people, the Health Secretary said they should extend their support to the government by adhering to the COVID-19 protocols while going out and maintaining social distancing besides washing hands regularly.
“If we follow the COVID-19 protocols we can break the chain,” he said.
On supply of vaccine, State Health Minister C Vijayabaskar said the State vaccine store on Saturday received an additional 4 lakh doses of COVID vaccine, each two lakh of Covaxin and Covishield.
“These will be sent to the district centres. Vaccination saves lives, get your vaccination done,” he said in a tweet.
