An additional 1,385 persons tested positive for COVID-19 on Monday, taking the tally of active cases in Tamil Nadu to 8,619. As on date, 8,68,367 persons have tested positive for the infection.

At the same time, 659 persons recovered during the day, taking the total number of persons who have recovered to 8,47,139. The State also recorded 10 deaths in the last 24 hours, bringing up the total to 12,609 persons.

Among the districts, Chennai accounted for 496 new cases. At the same time, 261 persons recovered. The district also recorded four deaths. The number of active cases now stands at 3,211. The total cases in the district as on date are 2,42,115, of which 2,34,702 persons have recovered. So far, the district accounted for 4,202 deaths.

Coimbatore recorded 130 new infections, whereas another 126 persons were diagnosed with the infection in Chengalpattu. Each of these districts also recorded two deaths in the intervening hours. Thanjavur, with 83 cases, and Tiruvallur, with 62 cases, were among the districts with a high number of infections.

One of the 10 persons whose deaths was recorded in the past 24 hours had no co-morbidities. A 64-year-old man from Coimbatore, who had been admitted on March 3 to a private hospital after complaining of fever, cough and difficulty in breathing, tested positive for the infection on March 20. He died on Sunday due to acute respiratory distress syndrome caused by COVID-19 pneumonia.

The oldest person to succumb to the infection was an 89-year-old woman from Chennai, who was admitted on March 19 to a private hospital with complaints of fever for five days and difficulty in breathing. She tested positive on March 20 and died on Monday morning. Her death was due to ARDS/COVID-19 pneumonia.

The youngest person to succumb to the infection was a 36-year-old from Chennai. She was diabetic and had systemic hypertension. She had undergone a renal transplant and also had hypothyroidism. She had been admitted to the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital on March 16 and had tested positive the same day. She died three days later on March 19. The hospital recorded her death as due to COVID-19 pneumonia/respiratory failure.

The State government had increased the number of RT-PCR tests done in a day to 73,247. Till date 1,88,54,356 tests have been done, according to the daily bulletin from the Directorate of Public Health.

The State’s vaccination coverage crossed 22 lakh as another 1,52,634 persons were vaccinated on Monday. A total of 22,40,950 persons have been inoculated so far.