Chennai, June 9 (IANS) Tamil Nadu on Tuesday hit a new high in its corona count with as many as 1,685 persons testing positive for coronavirus, taking the total tally to 34,914, the state Health Department said.

With the infection cases going up, Health Minister C.Vijayabaskar said the government is augmenting the hospital bed strength at various locations.

He said a 500 bed hospital facility is ready at the Kings Institute, 300 beds at the old hospital in the Chennai Port and a 500 bed facility at the Egmore Government Hospital.

Vijayabaskar said 88 private hospitals have agreed to admit Covid-19 patients and more private hospitals have also expressed their willingness to do the same.

Queried about the estimated number of coronavirus infected persons, he said various organisations have projected different numbers based on their study.

A total of 21 Covid-19 patients lost their lives, which takes the death toll to 307.

A total of 798 persons were discharged from various hospitals in the state. The total number of Covid-19 cured persons in the state stands at 18,325.

The number of active cases, including in the isolation centres, is at 16,279.

Chennai continued to see the highest number of infections at 1,242 taking the total tally to 24,545.

On Tuesday 13,219 samples were tested taking the total to 6.21 lakh. Testing of 579 samples are under process.

The number of infected children in the age group 0-12 went up to 1,839.

--IANS vj/vd