Chennai, Jul 5 (PTI) Covid-19 infections in Tamil Nadu continued to surge as 2,662 people including four returnees from overseas tested positive in the last 24 hours, pushing the caseload to 34,88,091 till date, the health department said on Tuesday.

Total deaths rose to 38,027 when a 77 year old woman who had tested positive for the virus and having comorbidities, breathed her last due to respiratory failure at a government hospital in the city, a medical bulletin said here.

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The last fatality due to covid-19 in the state was recorded on June 15, after a gap of 90 days then.

The number of those who recuperated from the virus grew to 34,33,299 with 1,512 people getting discharged in the last 24 hours, leaving 16,765 active infections.

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Chennai topped the list with 1,060 new infections followed by Chengalpet 373, Coimbatore 137, Tiruvallur 132, Tiruchirappalli 112 while the remaining was spread across districts. Tirupathur recorded the least with three new cases in the last 24 hours.

The state capital leads among districts with 6,946 active infections and overall 7,66,726 coronavirus cases.

A total of 26,692 samples were tested in the last 24 hours, pushing the cumulative number of tests so far to 6,73,03,921 the health bulletin said.

Meanwhile, the Greater Chennai Corporation in view of the increase in cases, issued an advisory stating a fine of Rs 500 would be collected from those individuals who fail to wear a facial mask at public places from Wednesday.

A team comprising of health inspectors has been formed to monitor whether people adhere to covid-19 appropriate behaviour in public places, an official release from the Corporation said.

It appealed to commercial establishments that employees followed covid-19 protocols and ensure customers also adhere to them.

Those individuals who had tested positive in the city and are under home quarantine are monitored on a daily basis through telephone consultation, the release said.

Meanwhile, Minister for Medical and Family Welfare Ma Subramanian said 1.45 crore people were yet to receive the first and second covid-19 doses in the state and added that during the next Mega Vaccination Camp scheduled on July 11, those individuals will be targeted.

Till date 11.42 crore doses have been administered, he said.

Referring to World Health Organisation remarks that BA.4 and BA.5 variants of coronavirus were detected in over 110 countries, he said, "we all should stay cautious as more than 10 states have reported cases ranging from 1,000 to 5,000."

"The only solution to safeguard ourselves is through vaccination", he 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)