: Two persons died due to COVID-19 in Tamil Nadu, taking the death toll to 66 while 447 people, including a three-month-old girl, tested positive for the virus on Thursday, state health minister C Vijaya Baskar said.
With the fresh additions, the cumulative tally of coronavirus cases in the state touched 9,674, he said.
After reporting more than 500 cases for nearly 10 days, Tamil Nadu witnessed a slight dip in the number of positive cases registered.
A bulletin issued by the health department said 64 people were discharged after treatment on Thursday taking the total to 2,240 people till date.
The Minister said the government has stepped up testing facilities and as of Thursday 2,80,023 people were tested while the total number of samples was 2,91,432.
Asking people not to panic over the spread of coronavirus, he said Covid-19 patients including those diagnosed with cancer, besides HIV positive people were discharged following treatment.
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He said 15 people, who require dialysis and two suffering from liver failure, were also discharged from the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital (RGGGH) here.
Their getting cured of the disease shows "the government is fully engaged in containing the spread of virus," he said.
"Chief Minister ( K Palaniswami) is monitoring the situation, giving directions to authorities on a daily basis," Baskar said.
The state's death rate stood at 0.67 per cent, he said and credited the dedication of government doctors, nurses and health department workers for ensuring such a low figure.
"Through proper testing, early diagnosis and clinical management we have reduced the death rate.
Though it is very challenging for high risk patients, we have been able to discharge them after treatment," he said.
Among those discharged were a 96-year-old person and a new born baby from the RGGGH, he said.
The government was also engaged in auditing the deaths among people who tested COVID-19 positive.
"A Rapid Response Team has been formed to study on how this disease spreads, its virulence and which age groups are mostly affected.
It will submit its report to chief secretary (K Shanmugham)," he said.
The team would comprise those from General and community medicine and microbiologists, he said.
Referring to the meeting chaired by Palaniswami with medical experts earlier in the day, he said the World Health Organisation lauded the government for its approach vis-a-vis treatment of COVID-19 affected.
WHO Chief Scientist Soumya Swaminathan participated in the consultations through video-conferencing facility.
Among those infected on Thursday were 22 people who had returned from Maharashtra, which tops the country's COVID-19 cases at 27,524.
Two individuals who had returned from Qatar had also tested positive, the government said.
Number of active cases in Tamil Nadu was 7,365 while there are 58 testing facilities which include 38 government operated ones.
Chennai constituted the major chunk of cases among districts at 5,637 cases till date, followed by Thiruvallur at 495, Chengalpattu (430) and Cuddalore which had 413 infections.
All 447 cases reported today were contacts, according to the Health department bulletin.
Among the deceased on Thursday was a 45-year-old woman from Chennai who was also suffering from "diabetes mellitus, systematic hypertension" and also COVID-19 positive.
She died due to acute "respiratory distress syndrome."