The COVID-19 death toll in the Union Territory went up to 437 with the death of six more patients on Friday.
Addressing a press conference here on Friday, Minister for Health Malladi Krishna Rao said of the six deaths, five were reported in Puducherry and one in Karaikal.
On Friday, 5,344 people were tested for the virus in the four regions of U.T. Of them, 490 returned positive, taking the number of cases to 21,913.
There are 4,761 active cases, including 2,975 under home isolation. Since the outbreak of the pandemic, 16,715 people had been treated and discharged, he added.
District Collector-cum-Secretary (Health) T. Arun, in an order on Friday, asked people with influenza-like illness (ILI) and Severe Acute Respiratory Infections (SARI) to immediately report to the nearest Public Health Centres or COVID-19 focus centres. A daily report of cases referred to the nearest PHCs should be submitted to Deputy Director Thirumalai Shankar (ph: 9443480506), he said.
The government had roped in SHGs, Nehru Yuva Kendra and healthcare workers for house-to-house surveillance of patients, he said, adding that early detection of cases was necessary as 70% of COVID-19 deaths reported were due to late admission to hospitals.
