NE NEWS SERVICE
CHENNAI, MAY 26
Five men and four women were succumbed to COVID-19 while 646 people tested positive for coronavirus on Tuesday taking the infection tally in Tamil Nadu to 17,728, an official communication said.
As the cases continued to mount, Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami held a virtual meeting from the Secretariat with medical and public health experts on testing strategies, treatment protocols, flattening the COVID-19 death curve, protecting the vulnerable groups and preparedness in hospitals.
Health Minister C Vijayabaskar, officials led by Chief Secretary K Shanmugam and Chief Scientist, World Health Organisation, Soumya Swaminathan and Indian Council of Medical Research-National Institute of Epidemiology, and scientist Prabhdeep Kaur were among the experts who participated.
Palaniswami directed the officials to further increase the focus on containment and prevention activities in Chennai, which accounted for 65.65 per cent of the state’s total coronavirus cases.
Chennai accounted for 11,640 of the total cases and of the 646 who turned positive today, 509 hailing from state capital. With the new fatalities, the death toll in the state has risen to 127 and at least 89 deaths were from Chennai.
Those dead had comorbid conditions including diabetes and hypertension and a 76-year-old man from Tiruvannamalai had chronic kidney disease, a health department bulletin said.
As many as 611 people were discharged and 9,342 patients have till date recovered from the infection while the active cases stood at 8,256.
Five people who returned from Dubai and 35 from Maharashtra were among the 646 people who tested positive today and with this, the aggregate number of virus cases in Tamil Nadu touched 17,728. Till date, 86 people from abroad and 36 passengers who arrived by trains have tested positive.
A total of 4,31,739 samples have been examined till date, of which 10,289 were tested today, the state government bulletin said.
