Chennai:
Tamil Nadu reported the highest ever single-day spike in cases on Thursday with the State reporting 161 cases and taking the total tally of cases to 2323.
Chennai accounted for 138 of the 161 cases on Thursday.
Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) Commissioner, G Prakash on Thursday said 98% Coronavirus patients in Chennai are asymptomatic.
"...But 44 positive cases have unlinked history. We have formed special teams to trace the links. There is no community spread,” Prakash said at a press meet on Wednesday. He said social distancing measures will be intensified to curb the spread of the infection.
The number of children below the age of 12 who have tested positive stands at 142 children, the media bulletin confirmed. Of the total number of cases, 1,553 are male and 770 female patients.
Chennai is the worst-hit district in the State with the total number of cases standing at 906. Coimbatore has the second-highest number of cases in the State with 141 cases. Chennai has been witnessing a big spike in the number of positive cases in the last few days. It has been classified as a red zone.
The number of active cases in the State has surpassed the 1000 mark with 1035 cases being reported on Thursday.
The media bulletin classified sources of infection into 'primary' and 'contact' cases. For primary sources, the bulletin said a detailed investigation was underway. On Thursday, there were 34 primary cases.
The death toll in the State remained unchanged at 27. Around 48 patients were discharged on Thursday taking the total number of recoveries up to 1,258.
In all, 31,375 people are under home quarantine, 40 in government quarantine facilities, and 1,978 people are under isolation at hospitals across the state. So far, 1,19,748 samples and 1,10,718 persons have been tested.
*TN government launches website for non-resident Tamils:*
The Tamil Nadu government on Thursday launched a website -- www.nonresidenttamil.org -- to help Tamil citizens stuck overseas to return home. The government said many Tamil citizens and students are stuck without any way to get back and are suffering.
“The website will help us know the total number of people who are stuck abroad and also prepare quarantine for those who return,” a statement from the government said.
The government has asked the citizens to register their details on the website as international flights have been cancelled.