But the presence of delta plus variants and new clusters in districts has forced the health department to be particularly vigilant Chennai and Coimbatore areas and at least four delta districts around Thanjavur. On Tuesday, Chennai had 209 new cases against 205 on Monday, while Coimbatore had 206 cases against 217 on Monday.
The weekly positivity rate was above two in Thanjavur and Coimbatore. At least 15 other districts had positivity rates above the state average of 1.2. “Some, like Chennai, are reporting new clusters, with positivity rates below one. So, we are looking at a combination of epidemiological factors,” said health secretary J Radhakrishnan. “The overarching objective is to test at least 1.5 lakh people daily. This includes targeted and randomized trials,” he said. Last week, the results of samples sent for genome sequencing have returned with at least 10 delta plus variants in the state so far.”
From more than 36,000 new cases a day in May, fresh cases fell to nearly 1,900 on July 19. But for about a month since then they have been between 1,800 and 1,900. “We may continue to see a certain number of cases every day as we still have a susceptible population…”, said Director of Public Health Dr TS Selvavinayagam.
Barring Chennai and Coimbatore, less than 200 cases were reported in all other districts. While Erode (167), Thanjavur (121), Salem (117) and Chengalpet (110) reported cases in three digits, all others reported cases in two digits. With just four cases, Virudhunagar had the least number of cases. At the end of the day, there were 20,225 active cases. The cumulative toll rose to 34,579, including 32 deaths on Tuesday. Of the 32 deaths, Chennai and Chengalpet had four each, while 21 districts reported zero deaths. Meanwhile, 2.3 lakh people took the Kovid-19 vaccine on Tuesday at government vaccine centers.
.