The number of new COVID cases recorded a rise for the third consecutive day in Chennai, with the city reporting 181 cases on Thursday. After going down to 122 on Monday, it had gone up to 139 on Tuesday and 164 on Wednesday. That is, the city added 59 new cases since Monday, a rise of nearly 50 per cent in just three days.

This increase was reflected in the test positivity rate (TPR) as well, which went up from 0.5 per cent on Monday to 0.6 per cent on Tuesday and 0.7 on Wednesday. The TPR for a particular day is calculated as a percentage of the samples that tested positive. As results are known only the next day, the TPR for Thursday will be known only on Friday.

The overall numbers in the State also climbed up on Thursday, to 1,859 cases from 1,756 a day ago. Other than Chennai, 18 districts reported an increase compared to Wednesday. This included Ariyalur, Cuddalore, Erode, Kallakurichi, Kancheepuram, Kanniyakumari, Krishnagiri, Namakkal, Nagapattinam, Ramanathapuram, Salem, Sivaganga, Thanjavur, Coimbatore, Tiruvallur, Tiruvannamalai, Thoothukudi and Tiruchy.

Coimbatore reported 188 new cases, Erode added 166 cases, Chengalpattu 113 cases and Thanjavur 102 cases. All other districts reported less than 100 cases on Thursday.

The overall test positivity rate of Tamil Nadu is 1.1 per cent, with Thanjavur recording the highest of 2 per cent.

The total number of cases reported in the State so far has reached 25,55,664 on Thursday, of which 21,207 are active cases. Coimbatore (1,905) and Erode (1,508) have the most number of active cases.

With 2,145 persons discharged from hospitals across the State, the total number of recoveries have crossed 25-lakh mark to reach 25,00,434.

The State also notified 28 deaths, taking the toll to 34,023.