Tamil Nadu registers 862 new Covid cases, 10 deaths

CHENNAI: Fresh cases in Chennai went up from 106 cases on Friday compared to 122 cases on Saturday, when the state reported 862 cases compared to 875 on Friday.
Chennai was also the only district to report cases in three digits, when the state reported ten deaths, discharged 1,009 patients and reported 10,588 people in the active cases registry.
Public health officials said it would be too early to attribute any spike to the festival, although they don't entirely rule out the possibility of increase in clusters. "There could have been delays in consultation and testing during the festival days, which can push up cases marginally. But lack of masks and social distancing combined with vaccine hesitancy can push up cases," said health secretary J Radhakrishnan.
Over the last two weeks, the test positivity rate has been below 1% indicating no surge in transmission, he said. At least 26 districts reported fewer than 20 cases on Saturday, of which 19 districts reported fewer than 10 cases each. After Chennai, Coimbatore reported 99 new cases followed by Chengalpet (79) and Erode (67).
Of the ten deaths reported in the state, there were three in Coimbatore, two in Thanjavur and one each in Chennai, Erode, Trichy, Karur and Vellore. On Saturday, 31 of the 30 districts reported no deaths.