As per the Chennai Corporation data, as many as 28,979 samples were tested on Thursday, of which only 372 confirmed positive. The test positivity rate registered on Thursday was the lowest since the onset of the second wave. In February, the city had less than 1.5 per cent TPR for several days before the number of cases as well as TPR began to rise during the first week of March. For instance, the city had a TPR of 1.40 per cent on February 23, when the civic body tested 10,209 samples. Presently, the civic body tests thrice the number of samples. It may be noted that the test positivity rate reached the peak on May 11 to reach 27.7 per cent.

Even though the number of cases and TPR are coming down, the civic body has taken measures to increase the number of testing anticipating a third wave. Already, instructions have been given to the zones not to close down COVID care centres. The city had as many as 3,530 active cases on Friday morning, which is 0.7 per cent of the total cases reported since the outbreak. Recently, more than 2,000 active cases have been added to the list after reconciliation. Also, none of the 15 zones has more than 400 active cases, while Manali has only 49 active cases.

RT-PCR to be conducted at offices, markets

Meanwhile, the Corporation announced that samples would be collected at government offices, private offices and markets periodically. “As many as 500 samples are collected from Koyambedu market and Kasimedu fish market on a rotation basis every day. Also, 100 samples are collected from the Chintadripet fish market. Due to this, cases in those localities have come down,” a Chennai Corporation press release said.