Seventy-six persons tested positive for the novel coronavirus on Tuesday, of which 55 belong to Chennai district alone, as per the daily bulletin released by the government of Tamil Nadu.
According to the bulletin, the total number of cases in Tamil Nadu as of Tuesday stands at 1596. Of the 55 people tested positive in Chennai, two are primary patients and 53 are the contacts of the two primary patients. This includes 26 employees from a private Tamil television channel who were confirmed to be positive earlier on Tuesday. The total number of positive cases reported from Chennai as of Tuesday stands at 358. A 24-year-old reporter from Sathiyam TV was tested positive on Sunday after which 94 employees from the channel were asked to give their swabs for testing for COVID-19. As more employees got confirmed for contracting COVID-19, the Greater Chennai Corporation has cordoned off the office and barred people from going inside and outside the building. Only three persons have been allowed to remain inside the premises to keep the channel on air. All other employees have been told to be under home quarantine.
One patient died on Tuesday while undergoing treatment for COVID-19 in the state, taking the tally up to 18.
The total number of patients discharged upon recovery in Tamil Nadu is 635 with 178 persons getting discharged on Tuesday. Tamil Nadu has also tested 6060 samples belonging to 5458 persons on Tuesday, with the total number of tests at 53,045 from 47,168 persons.
Following Chennai, Coimbatore has the second highest number of COVID patients in the state with 134 persons of which one patient tested positive on Tuesday. Namakkal, Thiruvarur and Kancheepuram districts recorded one new patient each on Tuesday, while Kallakurichi district reported two new cases. Tenkasi district reported five new cases, Villupuram reported four new cases, Chengalpattu and Thanjavur reported three new cases each on Tuesday.