Chennai: In a first in 182 days, fresh Covid-19 cases below 500

CHENNAI: Fresh Covid-19 cases in Chennai dropped below the 500-mark for the first time in 182 days, while Perambalur became the first district in the state to record zero new cases in 24 hours.

Tamil Nadu's Covid-19 infection rate continues to decline with 60% less new cases reported every day compared to last month. On Monday, a total of 1,725 people tested positive for the virus. The number was close to 4,400 on the same date last month.

The state's Covid tally now is 7,59,916 - fourth highest in the country next to Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. TN also has the lowest number of active cases, 15,765, of the four states.

The Chennai region continued to account for the maximum number of Covid deaths in the state. Of the 17 people who succumbed to the disease on Monday, 10 were from Chennai and its three neighbouring districts of Chengalpet (118 new cases), Thiruvallur (83) and Kancheepuram (79).

Western TN remained the second worst-affected with one-fourth of the state's infection burden. Coimbatore (174 cases), the only district outside Chennai region to report cases in three-digit figures still, has managed to bring down the active cases count to 883 now. It was four times higher last month.

Other districts in this region including Salem (74), Tiruppur (69) and Erode (64), which were hotspots too, have a recovery rate of above 95% this month.

This was almost on a par with the state's recovery rate. On Monday, 2,384 patients across the state were discharged following treatment.

In south and central TN, the infection curve is dropping flat at some districts such as Sivagangai (8), Tutitcorin (7), Ramanathapuram (5), Ariyalur (3) and Tenkasi (2) reported new cases in single digits.