NE NEWS SERVICE
CHENNAI, MAY 9
Tamil Nadu’s coronavirus spike continued unabated with 28,897 fresh cases being recorded in a single day, pushing the total caseload to 13.80 lakh while 236 deaths in the last 24 hours took the toll to 15,648.
The state government said the Sterlite Copper plant in Tuticorin district would commence production of oxygen from May 11 onwards.
According to a medical bulletin on Sunday, 23,515 people were discharged today, taking the total recoveries to 12,20,064 and leaving 1,44,547 active infections.
The state capital accounted for 7,130 new infections, totaling 3,90,589 till date. The metropolis also leads in the number of fatalities with 5,209 deaths.
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The number of samples tested today was 1,53,790, pushing the cumulative number of specimens examined so far to 2.40 crore.
Besides Chennai, Chengalpet added 2,279 cases, Coimbatore 2,509 Thiruvallur 1,768, Madurai 1,068, Kancheepuram 1,089 while the remaining 31 districts clocked new infections in triple digits. Cuddalore reported 478, Dharmapuri 353, Dindigul 351, Erode 691, Kallakurichi 280, Kanyakumari 515, Karur 291, Krishnagiri 485, Nagapattinam 211, Namakkal 216, and Ramanathapuram 136 followed by others.
Among the 236 deceased, 47 of them were without comorbidities, which include a 18 year old boy from Tuticorin, who succumbed to the virus due to ”COVID-19 pneumonia”. As many as 28 people who tested positive today were returnees from various destinations.
Meanwhile, the two-week complete lockdown announced by the government to break the chain begins from 4 a.m. on Monday.
Sterlite begins producing Oxygen from May 11: Thangam Thennarasu
Industries Minister Thangam Thennarasu said the Vedanta-owned Sterlite Copper plant would produce 35 metric tonnes of oxygen at its facility in Tuticorin from May 11 and double its production later.
“We have asked them to increase production to 70 metric tonnes. They (the company) told us that they will be able to give information on May 12..,” he told reporters here.
On April 26, an all-party meeting convened by the previous AIADMK government resolved to allow the plant to produce oxygen for a four-month period, paving the way for partial reopening of the copper smelter plant closed in 2018 over pollution concerns.
