Tamil Nadu Health Minister Ma Subramanian blamed north Indian students for the spike in COVID-19 infections in the state on Wednesday as the number of new infections neared 100 per day.
ANI quoted Subramanian as saying that COVID-19 is spreading among IIT Kelambakkam and Sathyasai students in hostels and classes.
The number of COVID-19 cases is still on the rise in some north Indian states, he said.
There have been 98 new cases of COVID-19 reported in Tamil Nadu in the last 24 hours, bringing the overall tally up to 34,55,474. However, there have been no deaths reported during the same period.
During the last 24 hours, 49 more people were discharged from the hospital due to the viral illness, leaving 542 people with active COVID-19 cases.
There were 46 cases in Chengalpet and 44 in Chennai, while Coimbatore and Tiruvallur added four each, and Kancheepuram and Vellore added one each.
India added four cases.
The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare reported 2,745 new COVID cases in the past 24 hours, 407 more than yesterday after a dip for the past few days.
In the country, there were 2,338 new cases on Tuesday, showing a further decline in the number of new COVID cases for the third consecutive day.
It increased from 17,883 active cases yesterday to 18,386 active cases today. The active cases represent 0.04% of the total caseload in the country.