Eight districts across the western region recorded 279 fresh cases on Thursday with Salem being the highest with 70 cases. Coimbatore reported 52 cases, the Nilgiris 44, Tiruppur 39, Dharmapuri 27, Krishnagiri 21, Namakkal 18 and Erode 8.
Of the 70 cases in Salem, 67 were indigenous including 53 in the Corporation limits. Three of the infected persons had come from Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, health officials said.
Namakkal reported 18 new cases. After a staff at the Namakkal Collectorate tested positive, the offices on two floors in the building were closed for fumigation. Disinfection measures would continue for two days, health officials said.
Fifty-two fresh cases in Coimbatore took the total tally of the district so far to 1,644. Forty-four persons were discharged from the Government Medical College and ESI Hospital.
The new cases were reported from Singanallur, Govindasamy Layout at Sowripalayam, Annai Velankanni Nagar at Perur Chettipalayam, Uppilipalayam, Perumal Kovil Street at Sowripalayam, Selvapuram Road, Bhanu Nagar at Saramedu, Ramalingam Road at R.S. Puram, Kaleeswara Nagar at Kattoor, Vishnu Nagar at Pattanam, Subramaniyam Street at Telungupalayam, Indira Nagar at Selvapuram, Udaiyampalayam at Sowripalayam, Radhakrishnan Street at P.N. Pudur, Osmin Nagar near Saibaba Kovil, Murugan Kovil Street at Peelamedu, Karuppa Gounder Street, Thudiyalur, Edayarpalayam, Podanur, Saravanampatti, Thirumalayampalayam and Neelambur.
A senior Revenue official said the results of 60-odd swab samples of employees at the Coimbatore Collectorate, which were taken on Wednesday, returned negative.
The samples were collected after District Collector K. Rajamani tested positive on Wednesday.
The Ukkadam police station was closed for fumigation on Thursday after a policeman tested positive. Swab samples of all the police personnel at the station were collected.
The Nilgiris saw the highest single-day spike in four days with 44 persons testing positive on Thursday.
Of them, at least 18 persons were said to have contracted the virus while attending a wedding in Thangadu village.
The event led to the second cluster in the district, after the one at a private company in Yellanalli. So far, 320 people have been infected in the district, and 116 of them recovered.
Tiruppur too witnessed its highest single-day increase with 39 fresh cases, with 24 of them in the corporation limits. Among them were six children, including a one-year-old girl, Health Department sources said.
Ten of the fresh cases were reported from S.V. Colony and the others from areas such as Kumaran Street, Anupparpalayam, Bharathi Nagar, K. Chettipalayam, Shankar Nagar in Udumalpet and Thalakkarai in Mulanur.
One of the reasons for the spike was attributed to the declaration of pending results on Thursday. Nearly 2,500 swab samples were tested, of which 39 returned positive, the sources said
Among the cases was a 48-year-old Revenue Inspector from Tiruppur North Taluk. The taluk office was closed and disinfected. Swab samples of the staff would be lifted on Friday, Revenue Department sources said.
In Erode district, eight persons tested positive. While 260 persons are under treatment, one person was dischar. The district’s tally is 468.
With 27 persons testing positive in Dharmapuri on Thursday, 156 persons are under treatment, including home quarantine in the district. Seven persons were discharged on Thursday.
In Krishnagiri, 21 persons tested positive and 12 were discharged. As many as 140 containment zones over a 1-km radius have been set up in the district.
