Tamil Nadu Covid count rises to 3.7 lakh, slight dip in daily toll

The number of patients who have been cured of Covid has reached 3.13 lakh in Tamil Nadu since the pandemic outbreak in March.

On Saturday 5,603 patients were cured and discharged from hospital. The rate of patients getting cured is at 83.8 per cent.

The daily toll dipped slightly as 80 new deaths were reported from across the State, of which 23 were in private hospitals and 57 in government hospitals. Maximum deaths were reported in Chennai - 11 casualties. The Tamil Nadu toll stands at 6,420. Of the total deaths, Chennai accounts for 2,564.

Currently, 53,710 persons are under treatment (including isolation) in the state.

Chennai continued its spike and reported 1,294 cases. Chengalpattu recorded highest number of cases after Chennai with 406 cases on Saturday. Coimbatore continued to report high cases with 389 new ones followed by Tiruvallur with 384 infections. Several other districts including Cuddalore, Kancheepuram, Ranipet and Theni reported more than 250 cases of COVID-19.

There are 12,962 active cases in Chennai currently, which also includes the number of patients under home isolation, followed by Coimbatore district which has 3,151 active cases and Tiruvallur with 3,903 active cases.

Tamil Nadu has tested 41,36,490 samples and 39,95,513 people so far, according to the media bulletin issued by the Directorate of Public Health.

Residents of Chennai could be closer to achieving herd immunity than expected earlier as a recent sero-survey conducted by the government and the Greater Chennai Corporation has revealed that the 50 per cent of the city population have developed antibodies against coronavirus.

During the sero-survey exercise, a team of experts from the National Institute of Research in Tuberculosis and Indian Council of Medical Research collected blood samples from 12,000 people across the city “Samples were collected from various sections of the population and tested at the National Institute for Research in Tuberculosis,” a Corporation source said, adding, more than 50 per cent of the 12,000 persons were found to have developed antibodies against the COVID-19 virus.

Sero-surveys use tests that examine the liquid part of blood, or ‘serum’, not nose, throat and mouth fluid. And these tests detect an immune response to the virus material, not SARS-CoV-2 virus material itself.