4 die of COVID-19 in TN; toll rises to 78; tally breaches

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Chennai, May 17 (): Four people died of COVID-19 inTamil Nadu on Sunday, while the number of cases crossed the11,000 mark with 639 testing positive, the health departmentsaid.

Those who died included two men and two women.

With this, the death toll in the state has risen to 78,the department said in its bulletin.

A total of 634 people were discharged on Sunday, takingthe total to 4,172 till date, it said.

After a marginal dip in the number of fresh cases belowthe 500 mark for the past two days, the state recorded 639 newcases on Sunday, which included people who had arrived fromother states.

Twenty six of these were children aged below 10 years.

Of the 78 deaths reported in Tamil Nadu, 53 were fromChennai, the bulletin said.

Chennai also continued to constitute the majority ofpositive cases at 480, taking the total cases till date to6,750.

With the latest cases, the cumulative tally in the statehas breached the 11,000 mark to touch 11,224.

Eighty one of the 639 new cases included people who hadarrived from Maharashtra, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Telangana andAndhra Pradesh, the bulletin said.

Out of the 639 cases, 398 were men and the remaining,women.

The total number of active cases, including those inisolation, stood at 6,971, it said.

A total of 12,445 people were tested at 61 centres inTamil Nadu on Sunday,taking the aggregrate so far to 3,11,621.

It said Chennai reported 480 new cases on Sunday, whileneighbouring Thiruvallur and Chengalput districts had 18 and28 cases respectively.

Districts which recorded a high rise due to influx ofpeople from other states on Sunday included Kallakurichi,Karur, Salem, Virudhunagar and Tuticorin, the bulletin said.

Kallakurichi district recorded 17 new cases, including 14returnees from Maharashtra, while Karur reported 16, againof those who had returned from that state.

Salem and Virudhunagar reported a total of 13 positiveases, mainly those who had arrived fromTelangana, Maharashtraand Rajasthan, the bulletin said.