Chennai, Oct 15 (PTI) Tamil Nadu on Friday added 1,245 new Covid-19 infections, pushing the caseload to 26,84,641, while the death toll rose to 35,869 with 16 more deaths, the health department said. The fresh cases included two returnees from New Delhi and Karnataka, respectively. Recoveries eclipsed new infections with 1,442 people getting discharged in the last 24 hours, aggregating to 26,33,534, leaving 15,238 active infections, a bulletin said. A total of 1,35,760 samples were tested in the last 24 hours, pushing the cumulative number of specimens examined to 4,91,53,252. Chennai and Coimbatore accounted for the majority of new infections with the State capital adding 167 cases and Coimbatore 139, while the remaining were scattered across other districts. Eight districts reported new cases below double digits, while there were no fresh deaths in 30 districts. Tenkasi recorded the least number of new infections by adding two. Minister for Medical and Family Welfare, Ma Subramanian said till date 5.29 crore people have been vaccinated in the State, comprising 67 per cent of the population including those above 18 years. "We will be reaching the 70 per cent safe standards in vaccination as prescribed by the World Health Organisation and Indian Council of Medical Research in 10 days," he said in a press release. Subramanian appealed to people to strictly adhere to the Covid-19 protocol in the wake of relaxations being announced by the government. "Chief Minister (M K Stalin) does not hesitate to urge people to follow the Covid-19 behaviour while new set of relaxations were announced. He continuously urges people to wear a mask.District administrations collect heavy penalty from people who do not follow Covid-19 protocol while in large gatherings," he said. On Thursday, the Tamil Nadu government lifted the restriction on weekend workship in temples with immediate effect and also permitted all shops including restaurants to work till 11pm. PTI VIJ BN BN