298 deaths, 29,272 cases in TN; 7,466 in Chennai

298 deaths, 29,272 cases in TN; 7,466 in Chennai

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:12.05.2021 

Tamil Nadu reported 298 deaths and 29,272 cases of Covid-19 on Tuesday, when 1.6 lakh people were under treatment for the viral infection. The cumulative toll touched 16,178 and the case tally reached 14.3 lakh on a day 19,182 people were discharged from the registry.

Hotspot Chennai

Nearly one in every four persons tested positive on Tuesday were from hotspot Chennai. The city added 7,466 new cases of Covid-19. Together, with Chengalpet (2419), Tiruvallur (1204) and Kancheepuram (664), Chennai region reported 11,753 new cases. After Chennai, the highest number of new cases were from Coimbatore (2650). In the South, Madurai and Kanyakumari reported 1024 and 995 cases respectively. While all districts in the state had more than 100 cases, five districts reported more than 1,000 cases, at least 15 reported less than 500 cases each. At the end of the day, Chennai had 37713 active cases, followed by Coimbatore (14324) and Chengalpet (12038).

Spike in deaths

The number of deaths have been increasing rapidly in the state. The state has added 1,000 deaths to the registry in the last four days. It took the state 115 days to add 1,000 deaths from around 12,000 deaths on December 22. Two weeks later, on April 30 the toll increased to 14,000 and a week later, on May 7 it crossed the 15,000 mark. "The doubling period for deaths too has been dropping drastically," said senior public health officials.

Lack of beds

Through the day many people made frantic calls to the state helpline 104, dialed emergency rooms of hospitals and called friends and family seeking admissions in various hospitals. While just 17% of the beds in the state were vacant, according to data from DPH, there were less than 10% oxygen beds and 6% ICU beds available. Almost all oxygen and ICU beds in Chengalpet, Dharmapuri and Ranipet were taken for most parts of the day. Getting an ICU bed was a struggle in districts such as Chennai, Coimbatore, Kancheepuram, Tiruvallur and Vellore.

Needed, more shots

Even as cases continue to spike, health care providers and frontline workers in the state continue to remain vulnerable to the infection. Less than 60% of healthcare providers and 42% of frontline workers in Tamil Nadu who took their first dose are now fully vaccinated.

Overall 73% of healthcare providers and 88% of frontline workers have taken their first dose, but they could still be vulnerable as they have not completed the course. The number of people in the 60+ age group and those above 44(with comorbidity) who have taken the second doses is between 35-40%. On Tuesday, 79,929 people took the vaccine in Tamil Nadu.

This included 26,264 senior citizens, 40,534 people above the age of 45, 4,326 healthcare providers and 8,805 frontline workers.