Chennai: Covid-19 fresh case in Tamil Nadu continued to fall for the third day in a row even though the country added more than 30,000 new cases for the fourth day in a row.
On Tuesday, 30,055 new cases pushed the number of patients in the active registry to 2.11 lakh.
The state reported 48 deaths took the cumulative toll road to 37,312.
The case fatality rate in Tamil Nadu is between 1.2 and 1.3%, but experts say the number of daily deaths increases.
The country that reported the weekly average of 8 deaths a day on January 5 reported 19 deaths on January 15.
On Tuesday, it increased to 39.
Forty-five people who died had a commorbid condition.
At least 31 of the 48 people who died are above the age of 70 years.
Eight others in the 60s.
“In many cases, Covid is an incidental finding.
Patients treated with several other complaint tests positive for viruses too,” said Minister of Health MA Subramanian.
The state has advised hospitals not to test hospitalized patients accepted for other reasons except those symptoms.
Nearly 21 of the 48 deaths came from Chennai’s hotspot, while his neighbor Chengalpet and Tiruvallur reported each four.
Madurai also reported four deaths followed by two each in Coimbatore and Salem.
Eleven other districts each reported one death.
Of the 2.11 lakh active case, 10,088 (5%) was in the hospital.
With almost 13% of all beds in the state it is occupied.
While 1133 patients were in the ICU, 4,842 were on the bed of oxygen.
“More than 80% of beds in all categories are empty.
We are at the top of the infection and there is no shortage of beds, oxygen or medicine,” said Health Secretary J Radhakrishnan.
On Tuesday, five districts reported increased cases compared to their calculations on Monday.
Tirunelveli (662) reported the sharpest increase from 526 cases on Monday.
Four other districts that reported an increase were Mayiladuthurai (185), Thiruvannamalai (629), Erode (1,229) and the PERAMBAL (108).
Four international passengers – two of Sri Lanka and one of each of the Norway and UAE were tested positive for viral infections.