NE NEWS SERVICE
CHENNAI/PUDUCHERRY, JAN 18
The COVID-19 tally in Tamil Nadu touched 8,31,323 with the addition of 551 new cases on Monday, while eight more deaths, including that of a 103-year-old man, pushed the toll to 12,272, the health department said.
Recoveries outnumbered new infections with 758 people getting discharged as the total number of those cured so far rose to 8,13,326, a bulletin said.
The number of active cases continued its decline and stood at 5,725. As many as 50,501 samples were tested in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of specimens examined so far to 1,52,79,808.
Of the new cases reported, the state capital logged 158 new cases, taking its tally to 2,29,238. The city has so far reported 4,069 deaths As many as 22 districts reported new cases in single digits, while 33 reported zero fatalities. All the deceased had pre-existing morbidities or chronic illness, the bulletin said.
The 103-year-old male from Coimbatore was hospitalised in that city on January 6, but did not respond to treatment and died on January 16, the bulletin said. Three of those who tested positive were returnees from West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh.
A private lab in Coimbatore was recently accorded the approval to conduct COVID-19 testing, taking the total number of facilities to 252, the bulletin said.
Puducherry logs 23 fresh cases, one death pushes toll to 643
Puducherry logged 23 new coronavirus cases during the last 24 hours taking the overall tally to 38,669, a top Health department official said on Monday.
The fresh cases were identified following the examination of 1,584 samples, Director of Department of Health and Family Welfare S Mohan Kumar said in a release.
One person aged 64 succumbed to the infection at the Government General Hospital last night, taking the toll to 643, he added.
Mahe reported 13 of the 23 new cases followed by Puducherry (7) and Karaikal (three) while none was added from the Yanam region, he said adding the overall tally of infections rose to 38,669.
As many as 20 patients were discharged after recovery during the last 24 hours ending 10 AM Monday, the Health department Director said.
The patient who succumbed to the virus had comorbidities, he added.
The number of active cases in the union territory stood at 286 while 37,740 patients had recovered and were discharged so far, Mohan Kumar said.
He said as many as 5.37 lakh samples had been tested so far and 4.93 lakh of them turned out to be negative.
The fatality and recovery rates were 1.66 per cent and 97.60 per cent respectively.
Meanwhile, K Lakshminarayanan, Parliamentary Secretary to the territorial Chief Minister, who tested positive for Covid-19 at a government hospital here on Saturday was admitted to a private hospital in Chennai on Monday on his request.
Mohan Kumar said that Lakshminarayanan had tested positive during examination of swabs at the government hospital here on Saturday and had expressed willingness to be admitted to a private hospital in Chennai.
Hence, the Congress MLA was absent at the brief special session of the territorial Assembly which was convened Monday.
