Tamil Nadu reports sharp rise in Covid-19 cases; active infections surge to 12,412

Five districts, including Chennai, accounted for the majority of new coronavirus infections on Tuesday as Tamil Nadu continued to witness a surge with 2,731 fresh cases being reported, pushing the tally to 27,55,587, the health department said.

Nine more people succumbed to the contagion, taking the toll to 36,805, a department bulletin said.

Those who tested positive today included 48 returnees from domestic and overseas locations.

After witnessing a declining trend for several weeks, Tamil Nadu has been reporting sharp increase in new infections since last week. The state had recorded 1,728 new cases on Monday.

Meanwhile, 674 people recovered from the disease and were discharged in the last 24 hours, aggregating to 27,06,370 leaving 12,412 active infections.

A total of 1,03,798 samples were tested in the last 24 hours, pushing the cumulative number of specimens examined to 5,78,57,004.

The sharpest increase in fresh infections was reported from Chennai with 1,489 cases, followed by Chengalpet 290, Tiruvallur 147, Coimbatore 120 and Vellore 105, while the remaining was spread across other districts. Chennai had reported 876 new cases on Monday.

As many as 15 districts reported new infections in single digits while Mayiladuthurai added zero new cases, the bulletin said.

On the status of Omicron variant, the bulletin said total cases remained at 121 with 105 people being discharged, leaving 13 active cases. Three cases were cross-notified to Kerala, Puducherry and Andhra Pradesh, it added.