Overall decline in new daily cases in TN hides rise in some districts

Meanwhile, the 3,715 new cases reported on Monday took the total number of cases beyond the 25 lakh-mark – the last one lakh coming in 17 days.

On Monday, for instance, five districts – Chengalpattu, Namakkal, The Nilgiris, Ranipet and Tiruvannamalai – reported more new cases than a day ago. Three districts had higher number of new cases compared to last week. The Nilgiris and Perambalur recorded 87 cases and 18 cases respectively last Monday. This week, they had 93 cases and 20 cases respectively. Similarly, Ramanathapuram had 19 cases last week, which went up to 21 cases on Monday.

Also, many districts seem to have dropped the number of samples tested every day after the decline in new coronavirus cases. The overall test positivity rate (TPR) in the State stands at 2.5 per cent. Though Coimbatore has the highest number of fresh cases (436), it is not even in the top three districts when it comes to highest TPR. The TPR is the highest in Krishnagiri, 4.6 per cent, followed by Mayiladuthurai with 4.5 per cent and

Thanjavur that has 4.3 percent. Incidentally, Krishnagiri (82 new cases on Monday) and Mayiladuthurai (29 cases) are not among the top of the list of districts with highest number of cases because the samples tested are low.

After Coimbatore, Erode (330) had the highest number of new cases, followed by Salem (233), Thanjavur (218), Tirupur (217) and Chennai (214).

Pandemic fatalities dropped to 54 on Monday, including 8 who did not have any underlying health conditions. With seven deaths notified, Coimbatore recorded the highest, followed by Chennai (5). The toll has gone up to 33,059.

After 4,029 persons declared recovered, there now are 34,926 active cases in the State.