A little over half of the fresh infections were from the northern districts 553 (51.87 per cent) with Chennai leading the pack with 302 cases, though the count was the city's lowest in the past one week, a health department bulletin said.

Chengelpet (77), Kancheepuram (40), Tiruvallur (58), Vellore (26) and Villupuram (13) were among the other northern districts that reported fresh cases. Barring one patient, all the 11 other deceased had co- morbidities and the toll included 3,973 deaths in Chennai and 736 in Chengelpet, the two districts with maximum fatalities in the state.

A 72-year old man, who battled end-stage renal disease and died due to COVID pneumonia and associated Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome, was among the fresh fatalities. The active cases, which include those under treatment at home, dipped to 9,314 with 1,131 patients recovering. In total 7,88,742 people have got cured in the state.

As many as 70,911 samples were tested and cumulatively 1,36,59,300 specimens have been examined at the 235 COVID-19 labs in the state.