Chennai: In the biggest single day spike, Tamilnadu reported 817 fresh COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, which included 138 returnees from Maharashtra, pushing the infection count to 18,545 while six more deaths were recorded.
With 558 of the newly infected being from Chennai, the tally of the state capital breached the 12,000 mark and touched 12,203 cases from 11,645 on Tuesday.
With three men and an equal number of women succumbing to the virus, the fatalities touched 133. A 39-year old man with diabetes and hypertension was the youngest among the six people to die.
Three people were septuagenarians and two others were in their early fifties.
While a 74-year old woman died on Monday at the Chengelpet Medical College Hospital, the five others succumbed to the coronavirus at the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital here on May 26, a health department bulletin said.
Of the people who tested positive Wednesday, 508 were men and 309 women The number of those who have tested positive in Tamil Nadu has risen to 18,545, though the active cases stood at 8,500, the health department said.
The positive cases today included 138 returnees from Maharashtra and another person from neighbouring Kerala.
Municipal Administration Minister S P Velumani held a review meeting at the Secretariat with top officials on the COVID-19 prevention activities in urban and rural local bodies.
On 25 May, Tamil Nadu witnessed 805 cases, the highest till then and on Tuesday the fresh cases slided to 646 only to see a new high today.
Yesterdayt alone 11,231 samples were tested with the state having 70 COVID-19 testing centres, 42 in government hospitals and 28 in private facilities.
So far, 4,42,970 samples have been tested. The number of labs climbed to 70 with the approval accorded to the Government Headquarters Hospital at Dindigul and a private facility in Coimbatore.
While 567 people were discharged today, 9,909 have so far recovered from COVID-19.
Till date, 86 people who arrived from abroad and 67 from other states who reached by trains have tested positive.