Chennai, June 25 : Tamil Nadu's coronavirus count galloped to 70,977 infections with 3,509 persons testing positive for the virus in the last 24-hours, the State Health Department said on Thursday. In a statement issued here, the Health Department also said, 45 Covid-19 patients died in Tamil Nadu taking the death toll due to the pandemic to 911. For the past few days the new infection rate was in the 2,000 range and for the first time since the pandemic broke out in the state the new infection touched a record high of 3,509. The statement said a total of 32,543 samples were tested taking the total tally to 10.08 lakh. On the positive side, a total of 2,236 Covid-19 patients were discharged from various hospitals, which was also a record high till date. Factoring the Covid-19 cured patients till date and the number of persons who died due to the virus, the total number of active cases in Tamil Nadu stands at 30,064. The number of infected children in the state in the age group 0-12 went up to 3,481. The state capital Chennai continued to top the infection table with 1,834 persons testing positive for the virus and the total tally stands at 47,650 in the city. The active cases in the city stands at 18,969. /IANS