TN reports 33,764 fresh coronavirus cases, Chennai's

daily count is 3,561 Chennai May 26 (PTI): The declining graph of new COVID cases in Tamil Nadu continued on Wednesday, with the State reporting 33,764 fresh infections.

The State capital also saw a slight decline in the fresh cases at 3,561 as against 4,041 on Tuesday.

Coimbatore in western Tamil Nadu topped the chart of fresh infections with 4,268 new cases today.

With the death of 475 people, the fatalities rose to 21,815, according to a bulletin.

The State has been witnessing a gradual decline in the daily additions over the past few days. It reported 34,285 cases on Tuesday and 34,867 a day earlier.

The total number of people testing positive till date increased to 19,45,260 and the number of active cases, including cases of isolation, was 3,10,224.

Cumulative recoveries clocked 16,13,221 with the discharge of 29,717 people today, it said.

Tiruppur reported 1,880 cases and Tiruchirapalli saw 1,775 new infections followed by Erode and Madurai at 1,642 and 1,538 cases respectively.

Meanwhile, Minister for Medical and Family Welfare Ma Subramanian said the concerted efforts of the government led by Chief Minister M K Stalin, frontline workers, members of the public and total lockdown led to a considerable decline in the infections in the State.

"The Chief Minister has directed us to concentrate more in the rural areas having high infections and take the COVID vaccination drive to even the remote parts of the State," he told reporters in Tirunelveli after reviewing the inoculation drive for 18-plus population rolled out by the State government.

He exuded confidence that the entire population in the State would be covered with the vaccination in six months from now.

"The government is in the process of procuring 3.5 crore doses of the vaccine through open tenders which will be opened on June 6. Once the tenders are finalised and the doses received, the government will cover all the people in six months," he added.

The Minister said that from vaccinating thousands, the special drive initiated by the government has helped to vaccinate about 2.53 lakh people in a day.

"We have crossed 75 lakh beneficiariesthe vaccination of those between 18 and 44 years is being carried out with 25 lakh doses that have been received, he said.

Greater Chennai Corporation Commissioner Gaandeep Singh Bedi said the metro was witnessing a dip in the daily cases.

"We believe that if our efforts continue the same way for a couple more weeks, we will be able to manage the second wave of the pandemic effectively," he said and thanked the doctors for their dedicated service to society which is "truly appreciated by everybody." In an open letter to doctors, he said vaccination was the only way to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and with their support.

Meanwhile, the Chief Minister Stalin flagged off 1,400 oxygen cylinders and regulators, imported by the State Industries Promotion Corporation of Tamilnadu Ltd and to be distributed to different districts in the State, including Dharmapuri, Sivaganga, Ramanathapuram and Theni.

In Chennai, a 68-year-old COVID-19 patient, seriously affected with black fungus (Mucormycosis), successfully underwent an emergency endoscopic transnasal orbital surgery at a super-specialty hospital here.

The transorbital surgery in the case of this woman patient entailed the use of multiple angled high-definition endoscopes and appropriate instruments, a press release from MGM Healthcare said.

These are important to obtain the required degree of precision and key to successful outcome, according to Professor Dr Sanjeev Mohanty, senior consultant and head, Institute of ENT, Head & Neck Surgery, MGM Healthcare. PTI JSP SA NVG NVG