Health secretary J Radhakrishnan said, “There was a gradual decline in deaths compared to fresh infections. But the decline was steady. We already have fewer people in hospitals and ICUs.”
Tamil Nadu reported the first COVID-19 case on March 7, 2020. More than two weeks later, on March 25, 2020, the Government Rajaji General Hospital in Madurai reported the state’s first Covid-19 death as a 54-year-old. Businessmen with serious comorbid conditions. On April 30, 2020, when no deaths were reported in the state, the overall death toll stood at 27. Since then, at least one death has been reported in the state every day.
On August 15, 2020, the state reported 127 deaths – the highest for the first wave. In the second wave, on May 30, 2021, the state reported 493 deaths – the most in a single day. “It was the worst month of the pandemic. We didn’t have enough beds, oxygen or medicines,” Radhakrishnan said. The state reported 10,186 deaths in May 2021. “We’ve come a long way from there,” he said.
The highest number of deaths for the third wave was on January 27, 2022 when 53 deaths were reported in the state. The death registry has recorded 788 Covid-19 deaths in January and 440 in February this year. There have been 19 deaths due to the viral infection so far this March, while the overall death toll from Kovid-19 since March 2020 is 38,023.
Director of Public Health Dr TS Selvavinayagam said, “With the increase in vaccination coverage, fewer patients are admitted to hospitals and ICUs. Most of those who died were either uninfected or elderly, suffering from comorbid conditions.” He said that while more than 90% of the population has received at least one dose of the vaccine, more than 70% have been double vaccinated. “During the third wave there were fewer hospitalizations and deaths in the state,” he said.
On Friday, out of 1,461 active cases, 247 patients were admitted to hospitals. Among hospitals, 46 were in intensive care units across the state. “More than 90% of the hospitals have no patients and those who have cases have less than 20,” he said.
On Friday, Chennai reported 42 new cases – the highest in the state, followed by Coimbatore with 13 and Chengalpet 12. Of the 455 active cases in Chennai, 49 were admitted to hospitals. In Coimbatore, in which 19 out of 179 Covid-19 patients were in the hospital. Two districts Ariyalur and Mayiladuthurai have no active cases, while 13 other districts have less than 10 active cases each.
On Friday, Puducherry did not report any fresh Covid-19 cases. This is the second instance when the region has not reported any new cases in a day since March 2020. All the 433 samples tested on Friday came back negative. The region has reported 1.65 lakh cases so far, out of which 1.63 lakh patients have been cured, with a recovery rate of 98.8%.