Tamil Nadu logged 1,252 fresh coronavirus cases and six deaths on Thursday. The new cases took the total caseload to 34,41,783 while death the toll reached to 37,962. With 4,768 discharges, the active cases stood at 23,772. In the past 24 hours, 83,861 samples were tested.
At 36,184, daily infections hit the peak in May last year, prompting the government to toughen restrictions to contain the virus’s spread. Cases have begun to drop since February this year. According to the PTI news agency, the state saw 7,524 on February 5 and it fell to 3,971 on February 9 and further to 1,634 on February 14. In the past two days, 1,325 and 1,310 cases were recorded.
Chennai registered the highest district-wise count of infections-285, followed by Coimbatore (214). Chengalpattu (105), Erode (69), Tiruppur (57), Salem (48) and Thiruvallur (41), among other districts. As many as 33 districts recorded fewer than 50 cases.
In the neighbouring Union Territory of Puducherry, 68 new Covid-19 cases were recorded when 2,030 people were swabbed. The cases were spread across Puducherry (50), Karaikal (12), Yanam (5) and Mahe (1). Of the 691 active cases, only 37 patients are under treatment in hospitals. The death toll remained at 1,959 as there were zero deaths on Thursday. The test positivity rate stood at 3.35 per cent.
On the vaccination front, 918 people were jabbed in the past 24 hours. These included 217 first doses, 569 second doses and132 booster shots.