Number of coronavirus recoveries increases in Tamil Nadu, rises up to 960

As many as 104 children under the age of 12 have so far tested positive for Covid-19 in Tamil Nadu, even as the state continued to report more recoveries on Saturday with the gap between discharges and active cases widening.

As of Saturday, the number of active cases stood at 835, while the recoveries went up to 960 with 94 patients getting discharged from hospitals across the state. For the first time, the number of recoveries surpassed the active coronavirus patients in Tamil Nadu on Friday, though the gap between the two was just two.

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However, the state continued to report positive cases with 66 fresh patients being tested positive for Covid-19 on Saturday, taking the tally to 1,821. One death was reported as the death toll mounted to 23. Chennai continued to be the hotspot for COVID-19 infection with 43 new cases on Saturday, which takes the total number of confirmed patients in this metropolis to 495.

Health Minister C Vijayabhaskar, who briefed reporters, said the increasing number of recoveries is convincing. “We have been taking all precautions and due to our treatment protocol, the recoveries are much more than the active cases today. People should cooperate with the government by staying indoors to prevent further spread,” he said.

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An update from the Health Department said 104 children under the age of 12 have tested positive for COVID-19. Of these, 55 are boys and 49 are girls. He also said doctors have been successfully ensuring that newborn are not infected with Covid-19 even if their mothers have the virus. As many as 1,503 patients belong to the 13-60 age group, while 214 are above 60.

The total number of men affected by coronavirus is 1,240, while the number among women is 581, the update said. Admitting containing the spread of Coronavirus in Chennai was “challenging” due to the city’s population and the contagious nature of the virus, Vijayabhaskar said the government would ramp up testing in the city by increasing the number of tests from Sunday.

He also said six PG doctors and a nurse, who were discharged from RGGH on Saturday, have given their consent to donate their plasma for treating COVID-19 patients. The update said a total of 80,110 samples have been tested so far.

“69,390 samples are tested negative. Testing of 1,754 samples is under process and 7,145 samples are repeat samples of the same persons,” the update said. The testing numbers were increased after the state changed its policies and went into “aggressive testing” mode, especially in containment zones.