Tamil Nadu COVID-19 tally crosses 20,000-mark; Chennai registers record-high cases

Tamil Nadu on Friday registered its highest single-day increase with the swab samples of 874 people, including 141 who returned from other states, rendering positive, even as the state crossed the 20,000 mark in the number of COVID-19 patients.

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Chennai, the state capital that is grappling with an increasing number of cases, also registered its highest single-day increase with 618 people testing positive.

With Friday’s increase, the total tally in Tamil Nadu has gone up to 20,246 with 154 deaths – 9 of which were reported on Friday taking the death toll to 154. 113 of those died are from Chennai, which now has 13,362 cases, including 6,895 discharges.

In the only consolation at a time the state is reporting an increased number in the positive cases, the number of discharges continued to grow with over 618 leaving hospitals after treatment on Friday alone. The number of discharges is 11,313, while the number of active cases as on Friday is 8,776.

The daily bulletin released by the health department said all nine deaths were due to co-morbidities in the patients. The state has been reporting an exponential increase in the number of cases since the beginning of May.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami said the recovery after successful treatment for COVID-19 in Tamil Nadu stood at 54.4%, while the death rate was minimal.

He appealed to the public to co-operate with the government in the battle against coronavirus.