NE NEWS SERVICE
CHENNAI, DEC 22
Tamil Nadu on Tuesday reported 1,052 new COVID-19 cases taking the tally to 8,09,014 and the death toll touched 12,012 with 17 more fatalities.
A passenger from London via Delhi, five others from states including West Bengal, Chennai and Coimbatore’s share of 311 and 114 respectively and Tamil Nadu’s other regions account for the 1,000 plus fresh cases, a Health department bulletin said.
Out of the 23 passengers arrived from the United Kingdom, one person has tested positive and his sample was being sent to the National Institute of Virology, Pune for genomic sequencing, the government said.
#CoronavirusOutbreak | New variants, or strains, of SARS-CoV-2 virus have been found almost since the beginning of the pandemic. Why, then, the UK strain is a cause for concern? pic.twitter.com/5M5by1oa4U
— News18 (@CNNnews18) December 22, 2020
An official earlier in the day said the purpose was to check if it matched with the a new virus variant reported in the UK.
The government said all the returnees from foreign countries were being tested and monitored.
Those dead include 13 with comorbidities and four with no chronic illnesses and the death toll of 12,012 includes Chennai”s 3,968.
The 8.09 lakh plus tally covers the state capital”s 2,22,888 and the active cases dipped to 9,391 with 1,139 patients getting discharged and cumulatively, 7,87,611 people have got cured till date.
As many as 65,357 samples were tested and in total 1,35,88,389 specimens have been examined in the 235 COVID-19 labs of the state.
