Cases rise in 17 Tamil Nadu districts, including Chennai

Picture used for representational purpose only

CHENNAI: All major TN cities - Chennai, Coimbatore, Trichy and Madurai - reported an increase in fresh Covid-19 cases on Saturday, when the state reported 731 new infections compared to 711 on Friday. Six people across Tamil Nadu died of Covid on Saturday, taking the cumulative toll tally to 36,519. At the end of the day, 753 people were discharged from the state registry, leaving 8,070 people under treatment for the viral infection. A 25-year-old passenger from the UK tested positive for the viral infection at the Chennai airport on Saturday. Chennai reported the highest number of cases on Saturday at 132, eight more cases than the 128 new cases it reported on Friday. During the same period, cases in Coimbatore rose to 130 from 127. The sharpest increase, however, was reported in Trichy, where there were 25 cases compared to 16 on Friday. Overall, 17 districts reported between 1 and nine cases more than their Friday tally. Data from the health department showed that though the weekly average test positivity rate (percentage of people testing positive over total number of people tested) was stagnant at 0.7%, at least five districts had test positivity above one. Tirupur, Salem, Namakkal and Chengalpet had 1.4% positivity rate compared to 1.3% in Coimbatore. Karur, Erode, Chennai, Thiruvallur and the Nilgiris had a test positivity rate of 0.9%. Salem reported more cases this week (between November 27 and December 3) compared to the week ofNovember 20 and 26. The weekly sum of cases rose to 329 from 303 last week. During the same period, cases in Vellore rose to 81 from 105 and Chennai reported an increase from 779 to 800. On Saturday, at least 29 of the 38 districts reported fewer than 20 cases each. Meanwhile barring Coimbatore, Erode, Namakkal, Salem, Thanjavur and the Nilgiris, all other districts in the state reported zero deaths on Saturday.