Tamil Nadu recorded 30,744 COVID-19 cases on Saturday. The last time cases crossed 30,000 was during the peak of the second wave, when 36,184 were reported on May 21, 2021.
The State also reported 23,372 recoveries and 33 deaths on Saturday. The total number of cases reported so far in Tamil Nadu stood at 31,03,410. While 28,71,525 persons have recovered, 37,178 have died.
Chennai continued to witness a decline in the cases for the sixth consecutive day. Most of the other districts reported an increase.
Chennai reported 6,452 cases, followed by Coimbatore, which reported 3,886 cases, and Chengalpattu, which recorded 2,377 fresh infections.
Eight districts reported more than 1,000 cases on Saturday compared to six districts on Friday. Kanniyakumari (1,266), Salem (1,080), Tiruvallur (1,069), Erode (1,066) and Tiruppur (1,014) were among the districts that logged more than 1,000 cases.
Sharp increase
Thirty of the 38 districts reported an increase in cases compared to the day before.
Among the districts that showed a sharp increase were Kallakurichi, Tenkasi, Namakkal, Thanjavur, Theni and Krishnagiri.
Chennai, Madurai and Virudhunagar recorded a sharp decline.
Eighteen districts reported deaths on Saturday. Chennai accounted for 12 of the 33 deaths reported in the State. Thoothukudi, Kancheepuram, Tiruchi, and Chengalpattu reported two deaths each. Another 13 districts reported one death each.
According to the bulletin released by the Health and Family Welfare department, 21 deaths happened in private hospitals while the remaining 11 took place in government institutions. Only one of the deceased had no co-morbidities. All the other 32 persons had co-morbidities, the bulletin said.
Twenty-seven of the deceased were above 60 years of age while the remaining seven were aged below 60. Among the deceased, 25 were men and eight were women.
The person who had no co-morbidities was a 42-year-old woman from Vellore district, who tested positive on Tuesday.
She was admitted to a private hospital in Vellore, where she died the following day.
The State tested a total of 1,47,054 persons in the 24-hour period ending Saturday. The test positivity rate continued to rise and stood at 20.8%.
