State-wide, 5,546 cases were reported, taking the tally to 5,91,943, out of which 46,281 cases are currently active.

Besides the Chennai region, western districts also reported high number of cases with Coimbatore recording 534 new cases and Salem witnessing 343 cases.

A total of 70 COVID-19 patients succumbed to the virus in the State on Tuesday, taking the death toll in Tamil Nadu to 9,453. Of the 70 deaths, 66 patients had several co-morbidities. Chennai reported 17 deaths followed by nine deaths in Salem and eight deaths in Vellore. Meanwhile, six deaths were reported in Chengalpattu as well. As many as 5,501 more patients were discharged taking the total recoveries in Tamil Nadu to 5,36,209. A total of 85,997 samples were tested in the past 24 hours and 72,67,122 samples have been tested so far.

A 57-year-old superintendent engineer of the Greater Chennai Corporation died of COVID on Tuesday. He had undergone angioplasty at a private hospital and four days after he was discharged, Shankar developed fever and tested positive.