CHENNAI: COVID-19 infections in Tamil Nadu crossed the 1,600-mark again on Friday, the Health Department said.
There were 1,631 new cases and pushed the total number infected to 26,30,592 till date, the department said. A total of 25 people succumbed to the virus and took the toll to 35,119 so far, a bulletin said here.
On March 25, the infections breached the 1,600-mark by reporting 1,636 cases. But, there has since been a dip in cases.
The department has alerted Collectors and the officials of the Greater Chennai Corporation about the rise in new infections.
"All collectors and Greater Chennai Corporation may be alert as Tamil Nadu is showing a rising trend. What is worrying is that instead of earlier week changes linked to increase in number of tests on weekdays, this rise is due to gradual increase on (COVID-19) positivity," the message sent by Health Secretary J Radhakrishnan said.
In the last 24 hours, 1,523 people got discharged, the bulletin said. A total of 1,58,197 samples were tested in the last 24 hours and pushed the cumulative number of specimens examined to 4,39,06,770 till date.
Five of the 38 districts of the State reported most of the new infections with Coimbatore seeing 235, Chennai 174, Erode 137, Chengalpet 133 and Tiruppur 113.
There were no fresh deaths in 21 districts. Ramanathapuram recorded the least number of new infections with two. Among the 25 fatalities, 18 succumbed in government and seven in private healthcare facilities.
Two of the deceased were without co-morbidity or pre-existing illness, the bulletin said. On the instructions given to the Collectors, the government said, "Till vaccination covers a substantial population, monitoring of people in crowded places, enforcing COVID-19 protocols and tracing of contacts in case of emergence of clusters hold significance. Vaccinating the maximum number of people for immunity among those not exposed is also important."
The district administration has been told to hold follow-up vaccinations camps apart from the proposed mega vaccination camp (scheduled on September 12) and also on regular days.