NE NEWS SERVICE
CHENNAI/PUDUCHERRY, JUN 29
Tamil Nadu on Tuesday reported 4,512 new covid-19 cases, while the active cases dropped below the 40,000 mark.
The new infections pushed the caseload to 24,75,190 while the toll from the virus touched 32,506 with 118 new deaths, according to a government bulletin. The deceased included 71 in government facilities.
Two passengers who returned by road from Andhra Pradesh added to the 4,512 new infections today.
With 6,013 patients getting discharged after treatment today, the total recoveries increased to 24,03,349, the bulletin said.
The active cases, including those in isolation, dropped to 39,335 from the 40,954 on Monday.
Coimbatore continued to top the new infections chart with 563 new cases and reported 12 fatalities on Tuesday, followed by Erode with 493 fresh cases and three deaths.
Salem saw 302 new cases and nine deaths due to the infection while Chennai reported 275 fresh infections and seven deaths.
Meanwhile, state minister for Medical and Family Welfare Ma Subramanian said a whole genome sequencing lab will soon come up at the Tamil Nadu Dr MGR Medical University at Guindy here.
“The lab, which will become functional soon, will track mutation of SARS-CoV-2, the virus causing covid-19,” he told reporters here after a review with senior officials including the varsity’s vice-chancellor Dr Sudha Seshayyan.
The Tamil Nadu Dr MGR Medical University has a nationally accredited microbiology and immunology lab for diagnosis and research on diseases such as chikungunya, dengue and leptospirosis.
It has been conducting the RT-PCR tests for covid-19, he said.
At present, Tamil Nadu sends samples to the Bengaluru- based Instem, which is part of the INSACOG (a consortium of labs that track the presence of variants in COVID-19 samples).
Puducherry records less than 200 new cases; 3 deaths
Puducherry recorded less than 200 fresh cases of coronavirus for the second consecutive day on Tuesday, taking the overall tally to 1.16 lakh.
The new 196 cases were identified at the end of examination of 8710 samples. The cases were spread over Puducherry with 146, 25 in Karaikal, 8 in Yanam and 17 in Mahe.
The active cases were 2,345 (385 in hospitals and 1960 in home isolation), Director of Health and Family Welfare Services S Mohan Kumar said.
The Director said three more people succumbed to the viral infection raising the toll to 1748. While two of the three deceased hailed from Puducherry the remaining one patient died at hospital in Karaikal.
The deceased were in the age groups ranging between 62 and 87 years. One of them had no co morbidity. The test positivity rate was 2.25 percent while the fatality and recovery rates were 1.49 percent and 96.50 percent, respectively.
The Director said 12,99,488 samples have been tested so far and of them 11,16,088 turned out to be negative. While 327 patients were discharged after recovery from hospitals today alone the total recoveries were 1,12,892. Meanwhile, 37,245 health care workers and 22,888 front line workers have been inoculated so far. As many as 3,62,657 people belonging to the category of either senior citizen (60 years and above) to those belonging to the category of 45 years and above have been vaccinated so far.
