Puducherry added 287 new COVID-19 cases on Friday while one death took the toll in the Union Territory to 571. A 59-year-old man with co-morbidities succumbed to the coronavirus infection in the capital. The cumulative death count in Puducherry is 473, followed by Karaikal (52), Yanam (42) and Mahe (four).
The new cases were detected from testing 4,287 samples. The test positivity rate was 6.69%, case fatality rate 1.74% and recovery rate 84.45%. Of the new cases reported, Puducherry region accounted for 236 cases, followed by Karaikal (28), Yanam (16) and Mahe (7).
Health Minister Malladi Krishna Rao told a press conference that the overall tally was 32,766 after the transfer of seven cases to Tamil Nadu.
The total number of active cases stood at 4,524 while 27,671 patients had recovered, including 306 patients discharged in the last 24 hours. The active cases include 2,871 patients in home isolation.
The Minister said 2.55 lakh samples had been tested so far and results of 2.18 lakh samples were negative.
Lt. Governor Kiran Bedi instructed officials to sustain the momentum of testing and preventive care — in spite of the continual decline in cases and deaths — as the festival season approaches. No changes in manpower need to be made and treatment protocols should to be delivered with due clearance from ICMR experts, she said.
Mobile teams would be deployed for random sampling in bars, theatres and public places during the festive season. The police would intensify enforcement of safety protocols in addition to traffic management, Ms. Bedi said.
