<span style="color: #222222;">In Tamil Nadu, the total Covid-19 patients under treatment or in home isolation dipped further to about 44.5 thousand.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"> </span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">The total case mortalities however crossed ten thousand on Thursday.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"> </span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">Meanwhile, in Chennai, the second phase of the sero-survey on Covid-19 has been launched.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"> </span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">The Tamil Nadu principal health secretary Dr J Radhakrishnan told reporters that the study will be expanded throughout the state in about ten days.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"> </span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">AIR correspondent reports, the new cases in Chennai in terms of absolute numbers has begun showing a marginal upward trend.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"> </span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">As the number of tests have been increased three fold since mid-June, epidemiologists say it is no cause for alarm saying the case positivity rate in the state capital is now well under eight percent.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"> </span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">They insist that the key parameter is the case mortality rate which at present is 1.57 percent statewide.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"> </span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">The Chennai Corporation and the state public health department have been jointly conducting fever camps in residential areas in the state capital since April end, through which a significant number of asymptomatic Covid-19 patients were identified.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"> </span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">It helped to prevent any further spread of the infection from them.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"> </span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">Now that the people of working age will be in offices during the day time, the officials are planning to conduct the fever camps at work places in the afternoons, as a means of aggressive intervention against the elusive virus. </span><br />