Hopes of any kind of respite from the coronavirus pandemic remained elusive in Tamil Nadu as 88 persons succumbed to Covid-19 in the last 24 hours while 6,472 new persons tested positive on Thursday.
A release by the Government of Tamil Nadu said the number of active patients in the city reached 52,939 by Thursday evening while the total number of covid-19 cases diagnosed till date crossed the 1.92 lakh.
With Thursday’s 88 death, the fatalities in the State reached 3,232. The only news that offered some relied was in the number of patients getting cured and discharged from hospitals-5,210.
What was Thursday’s cause of concern was the hike in the number of persons diagnosed with the pandemic in Chennai and the three neighbouring districts. Despite the claims by the Government officials that the number of patients in Chennai were coming down, the Metropolis tested 1,336 Covid cases on Thursday. For the last one week, Chennai’s new covid cases were contained in the 1100-1200 range.
Similarly, the neighbouring districts of Chengalpet ( 375) Kancheepuram (330), Thiruvallur (416) showed steep hike in the number of patients tested on Thursday.
The southern districts of Virudhunagar (480) and Thoothukudi (415) too tested unprecedented number of positive cases. The pandemic has reached the doors of Raj Bhavan in Chennai. A release by the Raj Bhavan said 84 personnel (mainly security and fire fighting staff) posted in the premises tested positive for coronavirus. But the Governor has not come in contact with those who tested positive for the pandemic, said the release.