CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu continued to add more than 100 cases on Thursday for the second consecutive day, when the state reported 145 new cases. This was despite a reduction in new cases (33 ) reported from Vellore Institute of Technology in Chengalpet. No deaths were reported, but active cases in the state rose to 711.
Public health officials said clusters are now being reported by diagnostic labs from workplaces, apartment complexes and within families too.
Chennai reported 58 new cases while Chengalpet logged 53 cases. While Tiruvallur reported a dozen new cases, ther e were eight in Coimbatore, four in Krishnagiri, and two each in Kancheepuram, Ranipet and Vellore. Dharmapuri, Kanyakumari and Tirupur reported one new case each.
One patient, who arrived from the UAE, tested p ositive. “In almost every wave we have seen, cases increase in Chennai a few days after Mumbai. We are now seeing an increa se in the positivity rate in Mumbai,” said health secretary J Radhakrishnan.
While the state has managed to increase testing to nearly 15,000 a day, public health officials said many people with symptoms do not opt for testing. “Worse, they don’t isolate themselves. This leads to increased transmission rates,” said public health director Dr TS Selvavinayagam. Early information from doctors show that many people have symptoms including sore throat, cold and fatigue for more than two days.
While genomic tests have so far not indicated the presence of BA 4 and BA 5 clusters, experts have not ruled out possibilities as several other states have identified clusters of BA4 and BA5. Studies, that are yet to be peer-reviewed, are now indicating that rein fections within a week to 10 days are possible among people who are not vaccinated.
More than 80% of the active cases in the state were reported from Chennai (326) and Chengalpet (261). While Coimbatore had 29 active cases, Tiruvallur had 26 and Kancheepuram reported 13 new cases.
