Chennai: The Tamilnadu Health department has sounded an alert to officials across the State in view of increase in Covid-19 cases.
Action will be taken against hospitals that admit double vaccinated, asymptomatic young and healthy Covid-19 patients, Health Secretary J Radhakrishnan said even as Tamilnadu reported 4,862 patients – a 78% increase from 2,731 new cases it reported on Tuesday.
Chennai accounted for a little over half of the fresh cases reported in the State as 2,481 persons tested positive as against 1,489 recorded the previous day. In Chengalpattu, which recorded 290 cases on Tuesday, cases shot up to 596. There were 259 cases in Coimbatore and 209 cases in Tiruvallur.
Authorities have said that the Omicron variant is leading to rapid transmission. Tamilnadu has 121 cases of Omicron of which 110 patients have been discharged. After WHO announced Omicron as a variant of concern on 26 November, 2021, cases began rising in Tamilnadu from 29 November, the Directorate of Public Health and Preventive Medicine (DPH) said in a statement.
Among all districts, Chennai topped the list with 2,481 Covid cases and four deaths. The positive rate of the city stood at 7.3 per cent. It is followed by Chengalpattu with 596 cases and Coimbatore with 259 cases. Other districts including Thiruvallur (209), Vellore (184), Kancheepuram (127), Thoothukudi (123) recorded maximum cases.