Tamil Nadu’s coronavirus count galloped to 70,977 infections with 3,509 persons testing positive for the virus in the last 24-hours, the State Health Department said on Thursday.
In a statement issued here, the Health Department also said, 45 Covid-19 patients died in Tamil Nadu taking the death toll due to the pandemic to 911.
For the past few days, the new infection rate was in the 2,000 range and for the first time since the pandemic broke out in the state the new infection touched a record high of 3,509.
The statement said a total of 32,543 samples were tested taking the total tally to 10.08 lakh.
On the positive side, a total of 2,236 Covid-19 patients were discharged from various hospitals, which was also a record high till date.
Factoring the Covid-19 cured patients till date and the number of persons who died due to the virus, the total number of active cases in Tamil Nadu stands at 30,064.
The number of infected children in the state in the age group 0-12 went up to 3,481.
The state capital Chennai continued to top the infection table with 1,834 persons testing positive for the virus and the total tally stands at 47,650 in the city. The active cases in the city stand at 18,969.
Stranded fishermen to be brought back
Tamil Nadu Fisheries Minister D. Jayakumar on Thursday said about 700 fishermen stranded in Iran due to COVID-19 will be brought back to India soon by a ship.
In a statement issued here, Jayakumar said about 700 fishermen from various districts in Tamil Nadu had gone to Iran on contract basis for fishing.
He said the fishermen got stranded there as flights were cancelled owing to the spread of coronavirus and the Tamil Nadu government has taken steps to bring them back.
Jayakumar said a ship will bring back the fishermen to Tuticorin port.
While the statement is silent on the ship that would bring back the fishermen, normally it is an Indian Navy ship that brings back the Indians stranded overseas as part of Operation Samudra Setu under the Vande Bharat Mission.
Meanwhile, a defence ministry official said the Indian Navy ship INS Jalashwa will bring back Indians from Bandar Abbas in Iran.
The ship arrived off Bandar Abbas on Wednesday and the embarkation of the Indian nationals was to commence on Thursday morning.