CHENNAI: After a month, active cases on Thursday dropped to 2,13,534 from 2,13692 on Wednesday, when the state added 28,515 new cases. However, despite the decrease in fresh and active cases, deaths continued to climb to 53 on Thursday.
With 13 deaths in Chennai and seven from Coimbatore, the cumulative toll touched 37,412. “The increase in deaths happens for some time after fresh and active cases fall. We saw in the two consecutive waves in 2020 and 2021,” said health secretary J Radhakrishnan. “Complications and deaths occur at least a week after a person is tested positive,” he said.
Of the 53 deaths, at least 52 people had comorbidities and 42 of them were above 60 years. The youngest deceased was a 27-year-old woman from Tiruvannamalai, who had several health complications.
Death audit of Covid victims showed that nearly seven out 10 of people who died had not taken the vaccine, said director of medical education Dr R Narayanababu. “Only 5% of active cases required admission. Our study shows that among vaccinations and deaths, the risk is higher among people who are unvaccinated,” he said.
On Thursday, for the first time since December 28, the state discharged more people than it admitted. By the end of the day, 28,620 patients were removed from the state registry .
Chennai (5,591) continued to report the highest number of new cases. Seven districts reported an increase in their daily cases compared to their previous day tally.
Pondy reports 940 fresh cases, 1 death
The daily fresh Covid cases dropped below1,000 on Thursday in Puducherry. However, the weekly positivity rate and daily positivity rate hover around 40%.
The UT saw 940 new cases even as 1,486 patients recovered. An 80-year-old woman with bronchial asthma died of the virus taking the toll to 1916.
