Chennai, Dec 30 (PTI) Tamil Nadu witnessed a surge in daily coronavirus cases with 890 new infections being reported on Thursday, pushing the total case count to 27,46,890. The toll mounted to 36,765 as seven people succumbed to the contagion in the last 24 hours, a medical bulletin said here.

Recoveries were less than the fresh cases as 608 patients of the disease were discharged in the last 24 hours, aggregating to 27,03,196 leaving 6,929 active infections.

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A total of 1,05,261 samples were tested in the last 24 hours, pushing the cumulative number of specimens examined to 5.73 crore. Chennai and neighboring Chengalpet accounted for the majority of new infections at 397 and 103 cases, respectively, while the remaining was scattered across other districts.

As many as 24 districts recorded new Covid-19 infections below 10, while Tenkasi recorded nil new cases, the bulletin said.

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Among those who tested positive include returnees from the US, UK UAE, Singapore, Maharashtra, West Bengal and Karnataka.

Five people infected by Omicron variant of the virus were discharged in the last 24 hours totaling to 32 till date of the overall 46 cases. The current active Omicron cases in the state stood at 12. Two Omicron cases were cross notified to Kerala and Puducherry, the bulletin said. Meanwhile, the Centre has asked the Tamil Nadu government to undertake various measures in the wake of sharp increase in Covid-19 cases. In his letter to Tamil Nadu Health Secretary J Radhakrishnan, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan stated that Chennai has reported a sudden and significant surge in cases over the last two weeks.

"The issue needs to be addressed proactively and immediately to ensure that neither the transmission spreads further nor do wo reach a situation of increased mortality due to late detection of cases," Bhushan said.

The state should take up enhanced testing in a focused manner and there has to be a 'pro-active' contact tracing and isolation of contacts of positive cases, their testing and follow up, he added.

There has to be increased pace and coverage of Covid-19 vaccination drive.

Bhushan also stressed on strict adherence to Covid-19 appropriate behavior and enforcement of appropriate restrictions to counter spread of infection.

(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)