Tamil Nadu records highest single-day spike in COVID-19 cases

Tamil Nadu recorded the highest single-day spike in COVID-19 cases on Friday (May 1) as it witnessed 203 new cases, out of which 176 were reported in Chennai alone. With this, the total number of confirmed cases in the state has gone up to 2,526, out of which 1,312 people have been discharged.

Asking people in the state not to panic, health minister C Vijayabaskar appealed to them to extend their support to the government and cooperate in its efforts to contain the spread of the disease. He said the number of positive cases in Chennai has increased due to the large-scale testing in the city.

As many as 24 districts in the state have been listed under the orange zone, while 12 are under the red zone, where any relaxation in lockdown rules is unlikely to happen, said a health department release.

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Earlier, chief secretary K Shanmugam deputed J Radhakrishnan, the commissioner of revenue administration, disaster management and mitigation, as the nodal officer for the Greater Chennai Corporation. Radhakrishnan, along with corporation commissioner G Prakash, will coordinate measures to tackle the spread of COVID-19 in the city.

The chief secretary has also deputed four IPS officers in the ADGP rank and an IPS officer in the DIG rank to monitor four corporations and suburbs of Chennai.

On May 2, the Tamil Nadu Cabinet will decide on relaxation in lockdown rules as per the recommendations of an expert committee and in accordance with the Centre’s notification on resuming businesses in the orange and green zones.