Tamil Nadu tally 1.26 lakh, samples tested inches towards 15 lakh mark

Fresh COVID-19 cases again breached the 4,000 mark in Tamil Nadu after a gap of three days and 65 deaths were reported on Thursday, taking the tally to 1.26 lakh and the toll to 1,765.

Though the state's daily count of fresh cases soared to 4,231, the downtrend in the fresh infections in the capital city continued with the addition of only 1,216 cases, bringing some relief to the officials battling the pandemic.

For the sixth successive day on Thursday, Chennai reported less than 2,000 cases. It is also the third straight day the city saw less than 1,300 cases after clocking its highest single day increase of 2,393 on June 30.

The total COVID-19 cases stood at 1,26,581 of which Chennai accounted for 73,728, a health department bulletin said.

In a reversal of trend, Chennai, which was accountingfor nearly three fourths of the total cases in the state till last month,has been reporting a dip in the past several days in the backdrop of the intense lockdown till July 5.

Since July 1, the city added 15,401 cases (42.29 per cent of the overall state total 32,532) while the other parts accounted for 21,013 cases.

From a high of 70.39 per cent of the state's tally on June 19, when a 17-day intense lockdown became effective here, Chennai's share dipped to 64.68 per cent on June 30 and has further decreased to 58.24 per cent on Thursday.

Reflecting the trend, the city's doubling time has improved to 25.42 days as of Tuesday from 18 days on June 28.

As many as 42,369 samples were tested on Thursday, the highest in a day so far and 14,91,783 specimens have been examined till date.

The number of virus testing centres increased to 100 in the state with two more facilities, one each in government and the private sector getting approved.

A 25-day old girl child from Thiruvannamalai and three men in the age group of 32-39 were among those who succumbed to the virus.

In total, 58 had co-morbidities and seven none.

As many as 3,994 patients were discharged from various hospitals, taking the cumulative recoveries to 78,161 while the active cases stood at 46,652.