Chennai: New coronavirus cases hit another peak on Thursday as Tamil Nadu logged 552 infections including three returnees from domestic and overseas, pushing the caseload to 34,58,997 till date, the Health department said. The death toll remained unchanged at 38,026 with zero fatalities in the last 24 hours, a medical bulletin said.
As many as 177 people have recuperated from the disease in the last 24 hours aggregating to 34,18,658 leaving 2,313 active infections.
Chennai and neighbouring Chengalpet accounted for majority of new cases by adding 253 and 129 cases respectively while the remaining was spread across 24 of the total 38 districts.
The state capital leads among districts with 1,139 active infections and overall 7,54,304 coronavirus cases. A total of 15,292 samples were tested in the last 24 hours, pushing the cumulative number of tests so far to 6,68,38,764 the health bulletin said. Earlier in the day, Minister for Medical and Family Welfare Ma Subramanian visited places in neighbouring Chengalpet district which had clocked more than two cases in a street.
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He visited a few residential localities which have seen a surge in the cases. Later he reviewed the measures taken by the health authorities towards containing the virus spread. During his visit, Subramanian directed the officials to enhance the RT-PCR testing in the region and inspected the Corona Care Centre and the government run hospitals in the district in which 400 beds along with oxygen support have been kept ready to treat COVID-19 patients.
During his visit to the residential localities, the Minister enquired about the health condition of those patients who have tested positive and were under home quarantine. On the vaccination front, he said 92 per cent of the people in Chengalpet have received first dose of vaccination while 75 per cent second dose, he said.
He advised authorities to step up the vaccination drive in those areas which were less compared to other places and those streets which has more than two cases be identified and stickers be pasted in such houses. Awareness campaigns should be conducted towards ensuring people adhere to all the COVID-19 protocols, he said. (PTI)
