Chennai: The number of Omicron variant cases in Tamil Nadu crossed the 100-mark on Friday with 120 patients testing positive for the novel coronavirus variant.
Of the total 120 patients, 63 patients had no link to international travelers, said the bulletin released by Tamil Nadu Public Health and Family Welfare Department.
The state currently has 52 active Omicron variant cases after 66 patients got discharged from the hospitals.
The health department sent 117 samples to the National Institute of Virology in Pune after they were detected with 'S' gene drop variant and of the total 74 test results of patients have turned back positive for the variant and two tests results are still awaited.
The state also notified two Omicron cases to Kerala and Puducherry.
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Meanwhile, after several months, the state yet again reported over 1000 novel coronavirus cases in the state. On Friday, 1,155 people tested positive for coronavirus including the Omicron and Delta variant positive patients.
Till Friday, the state was reporting less than a thousand cases. On Thursday, the state reported 890 new cases and 6,929 active COVID-19 cases. The state also reported 7 deaths.
However, on Friday, the number of deaths also rose to 11 patients with comorbidities.
Even before the sudden surge in the Omicron cases, the Tamil Nadu government imposed restrictions for New Year celebrations. The state also banned beach visits and DJ parties for New Year's eve.
Meanwhile, the state also imposed additional COVID-19 norms to curb the spread of Omicron variant spread. The state revoked permission for offline classes for Class 1-8 students. It also restricted physical classes for nursery and playschool children.