Chennai:
Tamil Nadu on Monday recorded an all-time high in new COVID-19 infections adding 20,952 cases to the caseload of 12,28,064 while 122 deaths pushed the toll to 14,468 so far, the Health Department said.
With the increase in new infections, DMK chief M K Stalin, set to become the Chief Minister, met at his residence Chief Secretary Rajeev Ranjan and Health Secretary J Radhakrishnan.
During the meeting, Stalindirected the officials to take up measures against the spread of the virus and meet all the needs of the infected people.
He directed the officials to also take steps to ensure that Remdesivir used to treat COVID-19 patients was available in other districts in line with the medicines being sold in retail in Chennai.
He advised them to step up the infrastructure like adding beds, oxygen support facilities and medicine without delay, a press release said.
Meanwhile, recoveries continued to be high with as many as 18,016 people walking out of healthcare facilities aggregating 10,90,338 till date, leaving 1,23,258 active cases, a bulletin said.
The state capital accounted for the bulk of new cases — adding 6,150 infections totalling 3,52,260 till date.
The metropolis also leads in the number of fatalities with 4,858 people succumbing to the virus.
The number of samples tested today were 1,41,021 taking the cumulative number of specimens examined so far to 2,30,97,963.
Besides Chennai, Chengalpet added 1,618 new infections, Coimbatore 1,566 and Thiruvallur added 1,207 while 31 districts clocked new cases in triple digits.
Cuddalore 381, Dharmapuri 171, Dindigul 223, Erode 652, Kallakurichi 127, Kancheepuram 835, Kanyakumari 388, Karur 229, Krishnagiri 445, Madurai 477, Nagapattinam 232, Namakkal361, Nilgiris 105, Pudukottai 113, Ramanathapuram 197, Ranipet 382, Salem 607, Sivagangai 126, Tenkasi 133, Thanjavur 321, Theni 257, Thirupathur 111, Thiruvannamalai 207, Thiruvarur 206, Tuticorin 707, Tirunelveli 403, Tiruppur 477, Tiruchirappalli 653, Vellore 263, Villupuram 396 and Virudhunagar 141, the bulletin said.
Among the 122 deceased, 22 of them succumbed to the virus without any pre-existing illness and they include a 27- year-old man from Krishnagiri.
As many as 17 of them who tested positive today were returnees from various destinations, the bulletin said.
