With 1,939 new infections, the total number of cases in Tamil Nadu exceeded 7.54 lakh (archive)
Chennai:
After nearly five months, Tamil Nadu’s daily coronavirus count fell below 2,000 on Friday, helping active cases drop below 18,000. The state has reported the fourth highest number of cases in the country.
With 1,939 new infections, the total number of cases surpassed 7.54 lakh, while the number of people cured rose to 7.25 lakh with 2,572 people discharged on Friday.
The number of active cases in the state is now 17,748, according to a Health Department bulletin.
The state recorded 14 deaths, seven each in public and private hospitals, while the total number of deaths was 11,454, according to the bulletin.
Chennai topped the list of recent infections with 512, followed by Coimbatore with 179 and Chengalpattu with 145 new cases.
Many districts returned cases in double digits, while Tenkasi recorded only three, according to the bulletin.
The total number of samples analyzed by RT-PCR so far was 1.09 million rupees. Tamil Nadu does not use rapid antigen diagnostic tests (RADTs), he said.
On Thursday, the state government suspended its decision to reopen schools as of November 16 for classes 9 and above.
As in most of the country, schools have been closed in Tamil Nadu for more than seven months since the start of the pandemic.
Colleges and universities will start from December 2 only for researchers and final-year graduate students from science and technology streams, the government said. They were also scheduled to reopen on November 16.
The government said opinion on the reopening of the schools was divided after state consultations with parents and teachers on Monday. Parents in some schools wanted the institutions to reopen, but others were against such a move due to the Covid crisis, the government said.
However, there are criticisms that the ruling AIADMK and opposition parties violate Covid rules and prohibition orders at official, party and protest events. State police have also faced criticism for failing to arrest them and often for regulating and facilitating such gatherings.
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