Tamil Nadu reports 646 coronavirus cases, nine deaths in one day

Tamil Nadu continued to witness massive spike in the number of coronavirus cases with the swab samples of 646 people, including 54 persons who returned from other states and abroad, rendering positive on Tuesday alone.

Nine people who were receiving treatment for coronavirus in Chennai, Chengalpattu and Tiruvannamalai died, taking the death toll to 127, though the Tamil Nadu government maintains that the mortality rate in the state is one of the lowest at less than one per cent.

The daily health bulletin said all nine deaths are due to “co-morbidities” like diabetes and hypertension, a day after a study done by the Health Department said 84 per cent of COVID-19 deaths in the state are due to comorbidities.

The state’s toll went up to 17,728 on Tuesday with 646 fresh cases of which 509 were reported from Chennai, the biggest COVID-19 hotspot in the state, alone. The city has 11,640 cases of which 5,492 are discharged from hospitals and 6,056 are still active. Of the 646, 54 persons who tested positive have returned from abroad or other states like Maharashtra, Kerala, Gujarat, and Delhi.

And the number of discharges also continued to report an increase with 611 people leaving hospitals “following treatment” in the past 24 hours, taking the total number of discharges in the state to 9,342 against 8,256 active cases.

Tuesday also saw Chef Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami holding a meeting with experts on the way forward after the lockdown 4.0 ends on May 31. A government release said testing strategies, treatment protocols, flattening the death curve, identifying vulnerable groups and preparedness in hospitals were discussed at the meeting.

Sources said the expert team suggested more testing, while the Chief Minister asked the concerned to concentrate more on prevention and containment activities in Chennai, which has over 11,000 cases.

The state has so far tested 4,31,739 samples, one of the highest in the country.