COVID-19: Tamil Nadu reports highest single-day spike, 18 new deaths

Tamil Nadu recorded 18 new deaths due to COVID-19 on Sunday (June 7), besides 1,515 fresh cases, the highest so far reported in a single day, said the state health department. This is the eighth consecutive day that Tamil Nadu has been reporting more than 1,000 cases.

With this, the COVID-19 tally of the state stands has gone up 31,667 cases, including 269 deaths, according to the department’s daily bulletin. The number of people cured from the disease on Sunday was 604, totalling 16,999 as of date.

Eighteen among the new cases on Sunday were returnees from other states and foreign countries, it said.

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Of the state’s 1,515 new cases, Chennai alone accounted for 1,155 infections, while the rest 360 fell in other districts. This is a new high for the city, and takes its total to 22,149 till date.

One new feature in Sunday’s daily bulletin was the district-wise break-up of the testing data, using which The Federal has calculated the rate of positivity for each district. The positive rate is the average number of samples that have tested positive for every 100 samples tested.

As many as 86 per cent COVID-19 cases in Tamil Nadu have been found asymptomatic, Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami said. In a statement, he also said that the state’s mortality rate was the lowest when compared to other states in the country.

Tamil Nadu, he said, also had the best recovery rate. “While the pandemic has severely affected the state’s economy, various measures have been rolled out to put it back on track, and even some new investments have been attracted as a result,” he added.

(With inputs from agencies)