Chennai, Apr 15 (IANS): Even as the Tamil Nadu has been maintaining that the Covid surge in the state is not fearsome, the public health department has warned the elderly people and those with co-morbidities to wear masks and not to move around in crowded places.

While speaking to media persons, Director of Tamil Nadu's Public Health services, T.S. Selvavinayagam, said, "We advise the elderly people and those with co-morbidities to stay away from closed spaces and to wear masks and maintain social distancing when they are outside places."

In the last 24 hours, Tamil Nadu recorded 493 fresh cases. With this, the total number of active cases in the state has reached 2876 cases. Among the active Covid-19 cases reported, 137 were admitted to hospitals, two were in intensive care units (ICUs) while 51 were administered oxygen therapy.

The daily Test Positivity Rate (TPR) in the state is 8.6. Chengalpattu and Kanniyakumari reported 12 and 11 TPR respectively while Chennai reported 10.

Except for Ramanathapuram, Kallakurichi, Tenkasi and Villupuram, all other districts recorded fresh Covid cases in the last 24 hours in Tamil Nadu.

Chennai is the highest with 132 new cases followed by Coimbatore (43), Kanniyakumari (41), Chengalpattu (31), Tiruvallur (26) and Salem (23). Seven districts of the state reported fresh Covid-19 cases between 10 and 19 while the other districts reported in single digits.

The TN health department has however said that there were no reasons to panic as the state has not witnessed any large rapidly rising clusters as was witnessed during the first three phases of Covid-19.