17 international passengers, contacts test +ve

“There is only one case of Omicron confirmed so far and sample reports of 43 other suspected cases that have reported S-gene-drop are awaited. Since the samples are being sent from across the country to NIV, the reports are taking time. However, as soon as the reports are out, we will announce them,” said Dr P Sampath, Joint Director (EPI), Department of Public Health and Preventive Medicine.

On Monday, a total number of 605 cases of COVID-19 were reported — including five imported cases; three from UAE, and one each from Ghana and the UK — taking the total number of cases of COVID-19 in the State to 27,40,411.

Of all the districts, Chennai recorded the highest of 126 COVID-19 cases, while other districts had less than 100 cases. 97 cases were recorded in Coimbatore, 43 cases in Chengalpattu and 42 in Tirupur. As many as six deaths were reported in the State, including two deaths in Coimbatore.

A total of 1,01,005 people were tested for the pandemic virus in the past 24 hours and the positivity rate in the State was 0.6%. The positivity rate in Chennai came down to 0.8% and the highest (1.1%) was recorded in Coimbatore, Namakkal and Tirupur.