Biggest single-day spike of 938 new coronavirus cases in Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu on Saturday witnessed its biggest single-day spike of 938 new coronavirus cases, taking its total case count to 21,184. Chennai alone accounted for 616 cases.

82 of the new cases include three people who returned from Kuwait, five people who returned to the state through flights and 46 people who returned from Maharashtra through either road or train.

With six more Covid-19 deaths in the state in the last 24 hours, the death toll rose to 160.

As on date, the active cases stood at 9,021 and as many as 687 were discharged today alone and cumulatively 12,000 have recovered. The youngest among the dead was a 37-year-old woman who was admitted to the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital here and others, including a 70-year old man, had co-morbidities like hypertension, the bulletin said.

Till date, 89 people from abroad and 195 passengers from other states under railway quarantine have tested positive. Chennai continued to top the list of virus infected people in the state with 13,980 positive cases of which 7,321 were discharged following recovery and 6,539 were active. Till date 4,79,155 samples have been tested.

COVID-19 testing is being done in 43 government and 29 private labs all over Tamil Nadu.

A private lab at nearby Chengelpet has been approved for testing today, the bulletin said. Tamil Nadu Health Minister C Vijayabaskar, meanwhile, warned private hospitals against fleecing coronavirus patients and announced that a rate card for charging people battling the pathogen in private health facilities will be fixed in a day or two. Asked about some hospitals allegedly fleecing patients, Vijayabaskar said it has come to the notice of the government that charges were on the higher side in some hospitals. "This is (high charges) for sure wrong. This is thetime to serve; do service," he told reporters after inspecting a new 1,400-bedded Covid-19 care centre at Pulianthope in North Chennai to house coronavirus patients with mild symptoms.