NE NEWS SERVICE
CHENNAI, MAY 23
Five people died of COVID-19 in Tamil Nadu on Saturday taking the death toll to 103 as the state is grappling with the contagion witnessing 759 fresh cases, a bulletin from health department said.
A 75-year-old woman and four men, all from Chennai and suffering from various ailments, succumbed to the infection.
Of those infected were two one-month-old babies from Kancheepuram and Chennai, the bulletin said.
Twenty-one employees of various companies including those of an automobile manufacturing in neighbouring Sriperumbudur were among the latest COVID-19 cases, health department sources said.
As many as 363 people have been discharged taking the total to 7,491, the bulletin said. Chennai leads in the maximum number of positive cases with 624 being added to the list on Saturday totalling 9,989 till date. With the latest cases, the cumulative COVID-19 positive tally also crossed the 15,000-mark to touch 15,512.
Saturday also marks the fourth straight day the state has reported over 700 COVID-19 cases. On May 22, it had recorded 786; on May 21, it saw 776 cases; on May 20, it witnessed 743.
Five passengers who had returned from the Philippines and seven have tested positive in the exit test conducted after seven days of arrival, albeit having tested negative earlier.
On the domestic front, 24 from Maharashtra, three from West Bengal, one passenger each from New Delhi, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh have tested positive for the virus.
3.97 lakh samples taken for test
A private lab in Kanyakumari has come into operation for testing samples taking the total number of facilities to 68. According to the health department, 3,97,340 samples were taken for testing and there were 7,915 active cases under treatment, including those in isolation.
Returnees adding the state’s tally
Meanwhile, the Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami has said the rise in number of coronavirus cases in the state is also due to people coming from other states.
Speaking to reporters in Salem on Saturday, Palaniswami said 719 people who had come from other states had tested coronavirus positive. During the past couple of days, 90 new cases had been due to people coming from other states/countries, he added. On Saturday, 23 of the 37 districts didn’t report any coronavirus case.
Palaniswami said the state was collecting and testing the highest number swab samples a day in the country. On Saturday 12,155 samples were tested taking the total to 3.97 lakh. Testing of 612 samples are under process.
