Watch: Chennai city traffic police take out bike rally to spread awareness about Covid

On Thursday morning, 80 officers from the Chennai city traffic police took out a bike rally from the Gandhi statue at The Marina to spread awareness about coronavirus and the preventive measures. Accompanying the officers was their rallying song, urging people to maintain social distancing and to wear masks. 

COVID-19 cases in Tamil Nadu breached the 16,000 mark on Wednesday, the highest since the start of the pandemic, taking the caseload to 11.30 lakh, while 98 fatalities pushed the toll 13,826. 

The state had logged cases in excess of 15,000 over the last three days. It had crossed the 10,000 mark on April 18 this year. 

The 16,665 cases on Wednesday took the cumulative tally to 11,30,167, a health department bulletin said. 

As many as 15,114 people were cured of the virus, taking the aggregate to 10,06,033, leaving 1,10,308 active cases. 

Chennai headed the districts with 4,764 new cases, followed by Chengalpattu (1,219), while 29 districts saw a sharp increase, with figures in triple digits. 

Among the deceased, 14 had no comorbidities. 

As many as 33 people who tested positive today were returnees from various destinations, including one from Jammu and Kashmir, the bulletin said. 

A total of 1,30,042 samples were tested on Wednesday, taking the cumulative number of specimens examined so far to 2,23,78,247.