CHENNAI: Covid-19 cases in Tamil Nadu has reached 67 with 17 more people testing positive on Monday, chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami said.At a press conference here, the chief minister said the additional positive cases were found to be from a team of 1,500 people who had visited Delhi recently. "Of them, 981 returned and tested for Covid-19. At least 24 of them hail from Erode . The numbers rose from this team only," he said.The list of positive cases included 10 men in Erode district who were al in contacts with Thai nationals, who tested positive on March 21.Public health authorities are tracking other Muslims who travelled to Tamil Nadu from New Delhi to Nizamuddin.A 25-year man, who is a family member of the 54-year-old patient Madurai who died last week, tested positive and is now in the isolation ward of the Government Rajaji Hospital. The 54-year-old man also had connection with the Thai nationals, officials said. Two of his family members are undergoing treatment in the same hospital.Four more people, who were family members of a 25-year-old old man from West Mambalam in Chennai who is undergoing treatment in a private hospital after he tested positive on March 28, are admitted to the same hospital. The family members include a 15-year-old girl, two women aged 52 and 76, and a 20-year-old man.In addition, a 42 -old man, with a travel history to Delhi, is admitted to Karur Medical College Hospital. Health officials are still tracking the travel and contact history of the 50-year-old woman from Broadway in Chennai, who tested positive. She is admitted to Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital.The chief minister said the government had ordered 1.5 crore masks, 25 lakh N95 masks, 11 lakh PPE and 2,500 ventilators. Orders have been placed for procurement of 30,000 testing kits."We have screened 2.09 lakh passengers at airports, 3,400 people have completed the mandatory 28-day quarantine. Of the 1,981 samples lifted, 121 are awaited results," the CM said. The government is likely to get sanction for three more testing labs and take the total tally to 17.The chief minister said that isolation was the key to prevent the disease and sought support of the people. "It is a matter of life. But people are unaware of the disease," he said and added that “the media support in creating awareness of the virus.” He said it was a challenging time and the virus could only be contained in a phased manner.Palaniswami said the district administrators had been delegated powers to decide on the distribution of free ration and cash support of Rs 1,000 to the cardholders. The state government has scheduled to start the distribution from April 2.On the opposition's request to hold all-party meeting to combat the virus, the chief minister said that the identification and treatment of patients was to do with the health officials.He said the other state governments had been told to take care of the labourers from Tamil Nadu. The government has also given directions to the district collectors to ensure the companies provide good food and accommodation to the guest workers in the state. "1.49 lakh such workers are in Tamil Nadu, including 32,463 construction workers," he said.