Chennai: On a day when the toll in coronavirus disease rose to five with two more deaths, the number of cases also increased significantly with 86 more testing positive, taking Tamilnadu’s tally to 571.
Stating that the virus was only in Stage-2 in Tamil Nadu, Health Secretary Beela Rajesh told reporters here that of the 86 fresh cases, 85 of them attended the last month’s Tablighi Jamaat conference in Delhi, while one has a history of travelling to Dubai. With this the number of positive cases linked to the Delhi meet rose to 522 from 437.
With a whopping 446 cases reported in the State in the last five days alone, Tamil Nadu is second on India’s COVID-19 chart behind Maharashtra, where it crossed 600 cases.
Meanwhile, two patients, who tested positive, died at the Government Stanley Medical College and Hospital here, taking the toll to five.
While one of them was a 71-year-old male from Ramanathapuram, who was admitted to the hospital on April 2 at 09.45 am and died within two hours at 11.45 am, the other was a 60-year-old man, a resident of Washermanpet in the city, who was admitted on 1 April and died at 01.45 am on Sunday.
The blood samples and throat swabs of the 71-year-old man, which were sent for laboratory tests, reported positive today, while the Chennai victim had already tested positive and succumbed early this morning, taking the number of Covid-19 deaths in the State to five.