Chennai, Dec 22 (PTI) Tamil Nadu added 604 new Covid-19 infections on Wednesday, pushing the caseload to 27,41,617, the health department said. The fresh cases include five returnees from the United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates and Andhra Pradesh.

As many as eight people succumbed to the contagion in the last 24 hours, taking the toll to 36,699, a medical bulletin said.

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Recoveries eclipsed new infections with 695 people getting discharged in the last 24 hours, aggregating to 26,97,939 leaving 6,979 active cases.

Active infections in the State have been hovering over 7,000 over the last few weeks.

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A total of 1,01,713 samples were tested in the last 24 hours, pushing the cumulative number of specimens examined to 5,65,18,363.

Chennai and Coimbatore accounted for the majority of new infections with 136 and 94 cases, respectively, while the remaining was spread across other districts.

As many as 25 districts reported new Covid-19 infections below 10, while Ariyalur, Mayiladuthurai, Perambalur, Ranipet, Tenkasi and Theni, recorded zero new cases, the bulletin said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)