The three-time MLA of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, J. Anbazhagan, died at a private hospital in Chennai on Wednesday morning, days after he tested positive for COVID-19. Incidentally, Wednesday was his 62nd birthday.
Data | Tracking death rates helps gauge India’s COVID-19 response better
Anbazhagan, who had a chronic kidney condition, is among the most prominent politicians to have contracted COVID-19 and died. His death came on a day when Chennai accounted for another high of 1,392 of the 1,927 cases reported in Tamil Nadu. Overall cases in the city increased to 25,937 and total deaths to 260.
Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai and Ahmedabad have accounted for nearly 1,25,000 cases and 4,193 deaths, close to 43% of the overall cases and more than half of the total number of fatalities in India, signifying how the novel coronavirus has affected urban metropolitan centres. These cities continue to register the bulk of new cases and deaths.
The daily increase in registered cases and deaths reached new highs on Wednesday, with 10,787 new infections taking the total to 2,86,897 and 357 deaths added to the overall tally of 8,105. A total of 1,45,216 samples were tested on Wednesday, up from 1,41,682 the previous day.
Mumbai has been the worst-hit metropolis, with 52,667 cumulative cases and 1,857 deaths, and the city’s health infrastructure remains under severe strain. While the city has built multiple jum