New COVID-19 cases increased sharply for the second successive day as the Union Territory reported 81 more cases on Thursday. One more death was recorded in Karaikal, taking the toll to 674.
Puducherry accounted for 62 new cases, Karaikal 12 and Mahe seven. No new infections were reported from Yanam. The new infections were detected from testing of 1,353 swab samples.
A 69-year-old woman died at the General Hospital in Karaikal after developing COVID-19 pneumonia and acute respiratory distress syndrome.
With this, the total deaths in Karaikal rose to 70. The toll in Puducherry stood at 549, Yanam 45 and Mahe 10.
The number of active cases jumped to 276, which included 125 hospital admissions and 151 patients in home isolation.
S. Mohan Kumar, Director of Health, urged the public to continue maintaining safety protocols, including mask-wearing, washing of hands and social distancing, amid reports of a second wave of infections worldwide, and in several States such as Haryana, Punjab, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu.
“The threat of COVID-19 is far from gone even while the country has initiated a mass vaccination programme. Any complacency will undo all the exacting efforts that went into keeping the first wave of infections under control,” Dr. Mohan Kumar said. Moreover, the mutant strain has been reported to be more severe in intensity, he pointed out.
He also advised target sections of the population to volunteer for vaccination and not be misguided by false reports about safety.
The cumulative tally in the Union Territory rose to 40,201 and the total patients recovered to 39,251.
The test positivity rate was 5.9%, case fatality rate 1.68% and recovery rate 97.80%.
Of an estimated 6.50 lakh tests, about 6.03 lakh returned negative.
Meanwhile, 1,308 healthcare workers, 318 frontline workers and 1,366 members of the public took their first shot of the COVID-19 vaccines in the last 24 hours.
With this, the number of persons immunised in the Union Territory stood at 35,595. To date, 16,297 healthcare workers, 5,897 frontline workers and 13,401 members of the public have been administered the vaccines.
