Chennai: Barely days after Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami expressed confidence the state would be rid of Covid-19 positive cases, a spike was witnessed on Sunday with 105 patients testing positive for the pandemic.
Significantly, 50 of the new patients were from Chennai following a spurt in the number of tests undertaken by Health Department authorities. As of Sunday, the state’s Covid-19 positive tally went up to 1,477. This was the first time in a week when the number of positive patients crossed the 100-mark in Tamil Nadu.
Health authorities confirmed among those testing positive were a journalist of a Tamil daily and his roommate who worked for a Tamil private satellite television news channel. A two-day-old baby had also tested positive for the pandemic in Pollachi, Coimbatore, becoming the youngest patient in the state.
Meanwhile, a neurologist at a private hospital succumbed to virus on Sunday evening. In a related development, PM Modi spoke to Palaniswami over the phone and assured rapid test kits would soon be provided to the state.
