6 districts in Tamil Nadu record double-digit TPR

Six districts in Tamil Nadu recorded test positivity rate in double digits, as new COVID-19 cases continued to rise in the State for yet another day. Tamil Nadu added 12,895 cases on Sunday, which took the number of active cases across the 50,000-mark.

Among the 38 districts, Chennai has the highest positivity rate of 15.5%, followed by its neighbours Chengalpattu (14%) and Tiruvallur (12.8%). The other districts that have high TPR are Ranipet (12.5%) and Krishnagiri (10%). The overall rate has also shot up to 7.9%, showed data from the Directorate of Public Health and Preventive Medicine.

At 6,186, Chennai has nearly half of the new cases reported on Sunday, marginally less than the last few days, which on the other hand indicates cases rising elsewhere. The city also accounts for more than half of the active cases. Chengalpattu is second with 1,512 cases, followed by Tiruvallur that reported 702 and Coimbatore that added 608. The remaining districts recorded less than 400 new cases.

The State also notified 12 deaths on Sunday, all of whom had comorbid conditions.

State Health Minister Ma Subramanian said about 80-85 per cent of the new cases had ‘S’ gene drop in their samples, indicating Omicron variant, while the remaining was Delta variant. The officials were taking various steps to contain the spread of the pandemic, including strict implementation of COVID protocol, said the minister. Citing an example, he said the Greater Chennai Corporation penalised organisers of 13 weddings held in the city on Saturday for allowing more than the government-mandated cap of 100 attendees. The total number of cases has crossed the 28 lakh mark in the State.