18 More at IIT Madras test positive for covid, 30 cases in 2 days

Eighteen people have tested positive for COVID-19 at IIT Madras, taking the total to 30 cases in two days, officials said on Friday, amid a spike in coronavirus infections in some parts of the country.

Tamil Nadu on Thursday reported 39 fresh COVID-19 cases, pushing the caseload to 34,53,390 as the state continued to witness an increasing trend.

The number of deaths remained 38,025 with zero fatalities being recorded in the last 24 hours, a medical bulletin said.

Taking note of the rise in new cases, the government directed the health department to step up testing of samples to around 25,000 a day from the present 18,000 cases.

Health Secretary J Radhakrishnan visited the IIT-Madras campus on Thursday.

Chennai, which has been reporting cases below 20 over the last few days accounted for the majority of new coronavirus with 21 cases, followed by Chengalpet six, while Vellore and Thanjavur recorded two cases, respectively. Kancheepuram, Nagapattinam, Namakkal, Tirupathur, Tiruvallur, Tiruvarur reported one case each.

The state capital leads among districts with 7,51,356 cases overall.