No new cases of COVID-19 were reported in three districts — Ariyalur, Kallakurichi and Perambalur — as 482 persons tested positive for the infection in the State on Thursday. Among the remaining districts, 25 recorded fewer than 10 cases each.

In Chennai, 189 persons tested positive for COVID-19, taking the city’s total case count to 2,36,260. There were 48 cases in Coimbatore, 42 in Chengalpattu, 23 in Tiruvallur, 20 in Tiruppur, 19 in Kancheepuram and 15 in Thanjavur. The fresh cases included five returnees — two each from UAE and Andhra Pradesh, and one from Bihar.

The State’s overall tally stood at 8,53,449. There were a total of 3,978 active cases, of which 1,802 were in Chennai.

Another 490 persons recovered, taking the overall count to 8,36,963.

 

Fatalities recorded

The State recorded another four deaths — one in a private hospital and three in government hospitals, taking the toll to 12,508. Chennai reported three fatalities, while Nagapattinam recorded one death.

The deceased included a 58-year-old woman with no co-morbidities. A resident of Chennai, she died at the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital a day after admission on March 2 due to COVID-19 pneumonia, acute respiratory distress syndrome and respiratory failure.

As many as 50,706 samples were tested in the last 24 hours. Till date, 1,76,81,361 samples have been tested in the State.

Tamil Nadu’s COVID-19 vaccination coverage crossed six lakh as 81,026 persons were inoculated on Thursday.

Vaccination coverage

Senior citizens continued to lead the table after a total of 30,986 of them were vaccinated. They were followed by frontline workers (25,748), persons aged between 45 and 59 with co-morbidities (15,467) and healthcare workers (8,825).

The State’s overall coverage reached 6,70,396. Of the 81,026 persons, 63,646 received the first dose. Covishield was administered to 30,139 persons aged above 60 years, 25,426 frontline workers, 15,115 persons with co-morbidities and 8,384 healthcare workers. The remaining 847 senior citizens, 441 healthcare workers, 352 persons with co-morbidities and 322 frontline workers received Covaxin.

Till date, 3,90,713 healthcare workers, 1,57,477 frontline workers, 44,524 persons aged 45 to 59 years with co-morbidities and 77,682 senior citizens have been immunised in the State, according to the daily report issued by the Directorate of Public Health and Preventive Medicine.