Chennai reports 203 new COVID-19 cases on May 3, has 1,190 active cases

Chennai remains Tamil Nadu’s biggest hotspot reporting 203 of the 266 COVID-19 cases from the state on Sunday, May 3. The district presently has 1,190 active cases, 250 recoveries and 17 deaths.

A 44-year-old man from Coimbatore who was admitted in Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital in Chennai passed away on May 3 at 2.15 pm. This is the first COVID-19 death reported from Coimbatore and the 30th COVID-19 death in the state.

Thirty eight persons were discharged on Saturday and with this, 1,379 persons have recovered in the state so far. Tamil Nadu’s total number of COVID-19 cases as of May 3 stands at 3,023.

With 49 testing centres across the state, 1,50,107 samples have been tested as of May 3 with 10,617 just on Sunday.

Chennai has five major COVID-19 clusters according to the authorities. Of this, the latest is the Koyambedu Market cluster with at least 113 persons infected from here. The affected patients are spread across Chennai, Tiruvallur, Kancheepuram, Cuddalore and Chengalpattu districts. Officials believe a trader who had attended a function in Puliyanthope and a hairstylist who had illegally kept his salon open and also visited several people, to be the two major sources of spreading the novel coronavirus infection.

Chennai Corporation officials along with Chennai Metropolitan District Authority (CMDA) devised a plan to curb retail selling in the market selling perishable goods by banning the entry of residents in addition to shifting the flower and fruit market to Madhavaram bus stand. The market also has timings fixed for wholesale selling and unloading of fresh produce. Health officials have also been testing those at the market in mobile testing centres. 

The other major clusters in the district include the first batch of travellers who came in from foreign countries, those who attended the Tablighi Jamaat conference in Delhi, a group of television journalists who contracted the viral infection and the Thiru Vi Ka Nagar Sunday prayer attendees.

In addition to this, at least 42 persons from a single street in Triplicane neighbourhood were affected by a volunteer worker who was involved in distributing food during lockdown.