The state of Tamil Nadu has reported 98 fresh cases that have been tested positive for Coronavirus (COVID-19) on Monday that had put the total number of infected cases to 1,173 cases so far in its territory including the active, recovered, and deceased patients. With the current numbers, Tamil Nadu is the third Indian state to have reported with more than a thousand cases after Maharashtra and Delhi and the latest reportings have come when the state government has extended the statewide lockdown till April 30th.

In her daily briefing, Tamil Nadu Health Secretary Beela Rajesh has put out the latest developments concerning the outbreak during which she said that the state has reported 98 fresh cases of which 91 have been tested positive for the virus through the single source event - Tablighi Jamaat conference that was organized in Delhi last month. Of the rest seven, four had affected by the virus after coming to direct contact with the already affected patient while the other three are frontline workers including doctors.

She stated that Tamil Nadu has tested 12,746 samples so far and the government has established the contact and travel histories of all the positive cases. According to her data, the death toll in the state stands at 11, with no new fatality reported on Monday. She further stated that the Center has consented to install two new labs for testing- one in Government Medical College, Vellore while the other one in the state public health laboratory, Chennai.

She added that eight people have been recovered and discharged from the hospital on Monday taking the total number of discharged patients to 58. On Sunday, the state had witnessed the sharpest rise in the number of affected cases due to the virus in its territory. It has reported 106 cases positive for the virus, which is one of the highest single-day rises in the state and the number of positive cases stood at 1,075. With the current numbers, Chennai has the most number of cases in the state.

The capital city has currently housing 208 cases tested positive for the virus including the nine fresh cases that were reported on Monday. Following Chennai, Coimbatore has more cases (126), Tirupur (78), Erode(64), Dindigul and Tirunelveli 56 each, Namakkal and Chengalpattu 45 each. About 17 districts in the state have been marked as red zone after getting emerged as the hotspot for the virus. On Monday, the state government has announced that the lockdown has been extended till April 30th to strengthen the fight against the virus. Initially, the lockdown and curfew were placed till April 14th and the latest extension would carry the same restrictions and curfew to the second spell of the lockdown.

As of Monday evening, the state has reported 1,173 positive cases of which 1,104 are active patients while fifty-eight people have been recovered and discharged and eleven have succumbed to the virus. Most of the positive cases include both Indian and foreign nationals, have been directly linked to the Jamaat conference organized in Delhi.