Tamil Nadu COVID-19 cases breach 3,500 mark in single day; Cumulative tests cross 10 lakh

Fresh COVID-19 cases in Tamil Nu for first time crossed 3,500 mark in a single day and cumulative tally breached 70,000 while toll mounted to 911 with 45 more deaths on Thursday.

state, which has been focusing on aggressive testing, crossed ten lakh mark in number of samples examined so far while cumulative recoveries almost reached 40,000, a health department bulletin said.

As cases continued to mount, Chief Minister K Palaniswami asserted re was community transmission and said people should take all precautions including wearing face mask in public places.

He also hit back at DMK president M K Stalin terming as politically motivated his remarks that state 'wasted' 90-day lockdown.

3,509 new cases on Thursday included 1,834 from Chennai, which is also highest till date, as its share rose to 47,650 in state's tally of 70,977, bulletin said.

state screened 32,543 samples on Thursday, taking total to 10,08,974. A 31-year old woman was among de and 42 of m h co-morbidities while toll climbed to 911, it said.

Chennai, under an intense 12-day lockdown from June 19, alone has sofar reported 694 deaths of which at least three were cross-tified to or places.

number of active cases was 30,064 while 2,236 patients were discharged from various hospitals, taking cumulative recoveries to 39,999. state has been witnessing stey surge in COVID-19 cases, ding over 48,000 fresh infections this month alone.

"re is community transmission of coroanvirus in Tamil Nu," Palaniswami said in Coimbatore, where he held a meeting reviewing COVID-19 situation in western district.

Dismissing Stalin's criticism of "wasting 90-days of lockdown period and t preventing spreat of virus," he told reporters that only because of hard work of doctors, nurses and personnel of all government departments, fatalities and virus spre have been 'curbed'.

On Wednesday, Stalin also h alleged people were leaving Chennai and going to ir native places t only due to spiralling virus cases but also due to lack of support from government.

Hitting out at him, Palaniswami said Leer of Opposition in Assembly was commenting as if virus spre was a phemen confined only to Tamil Nu.

Stalin's accusations were politically motivated and false, and he was "t worried" about people. "He wants to capture political power and his statements are only aimed at power. In or state could you find a leer of opposition issuing such statements (during pandemic)," chief minister charged.

Sarcastically, Chief Minister asked,"he (Stalin) is a national leer. Why is he t talking about cases in Delhi and Maharashtra. Deliberately he is spreing false information in Tamil Nu everyday."

Asked about some companies resorting to retrenchment of employees citing COVID-19 as a reason, he said government would look into it if any complaint was received.

"If companies or industries h terminated services in a wrongful manner, appropriate action will be taken,"he ded. Chief Minister, who was in Coimbatore to review development projects and chair a meet with MSME representatives, in a surprise move, boarded a bus and requested passengers to wear masks and maintain distance during an inspection of a terminus.

Palaniswami has been repeatedly appealing to people to toe safety rms to help fight virus. Meanwhile, nine police personnel tested positive for virus in Nilgiris District, prompting officials to seal Kolaikomba police station.