Chennai unlock 2.0 news: Today's updates

Emerging from a 100-day lockdown, punctuated by a brief, fortnight-long exit, the city opened up to brisk business. Stay with us for all the latest updates from Chennai and the rest of Tamil Nadu.
* Update at 10.00am: The recovery rate among Covid-19 patients has increased to 63.24%. The recoveries/deaths ratio is 96.09% : 3.91% now, Government of India
* Update at 9.25am: Highest single day spike of 32,695 Covid-19 cases and 606 deaths reported in the last 24 hours in India
*Pudukottai district administration has stopped releasing additional details of Covid-19 positive patients to the media after allegations surfaced that big private hospitals were reaching out to them and persuading them to shift to their hospitals for better treatment.
*Seniors citizens above the age of 60 are being given anti-tuberculosis shots, usually given to children, as part of a national trial to study the vaccine’s effect in preventing Covid-19, Tanil Nadu health minister C Vijayabaskar has said.
*As cases continue to mount across all districts, the total number of patients discharged in the state crossed one lakh on Wednesday. Tamil Nadu added 5,000 discharges, taking the number of people treated and sent home to 1,02,310, and the recovery rate to 66%.
*While the cases appear to have plateaued in Chennai and Madurai, it seems to have begun rising in western districts.Salem breached 2,000 mark on Wednesday while Coimbatore crossed 1,500 cases. Newer clusters are emerging, beds in hospitals and Covid care centres are fast filling up and more streets are being cordoned off in the region as containment zones.
*In the past 15 days, when the number of Covid-19 inpatients in city hospitals and covid care centres has declined, the number of people in home isolation has also halved. As on July 14, 6,812 patients are in home isolation, 3,908 in Covid care centres and 5,094 in hospitals.