63 New COVID-19 Cases in Pondy, Tally Climbs to 1,531

PUDUCHERRY:
Puducherry witnessed 63 fresh cases of coronavirus on Tuesday, taking the tally in the Union Territory to 1,531.

Health Minister Malladi Krishna Rao told a virtual press conference that the total active cases were 684 and those treated and discharged were 829. Total fatalities remained at 18 as no death was reported for the last few days.

The aggregate of COVID-19 cases now stood at 1,531. While 63 fresh cases were registered on Tuesday, 44 patients– 33 in Puducherry and 11 in Yanam– were discharged during the last twenty four hours, the Minister said.

The new cases were identified at the end of testing of 637 samples during the last 24 hours showing a 9.9 percentage of positivity. Fatality rate was 1.2 percent in the Union Territory, he said.

Of the 26,592 samples tested so far in all the four regions, 24,863 samples were found negative and results of examination of the remaining samples were awaited, he said. Rao said that the number of positive cases had been on the increase in Puducherry as had been the scenario in several parts of the country.

“The government is ramping up the number of tests and mobile teams were already collecting samples from the rural areas and also urban pockets since last few days as part of the efforts to zero in on the actual scenario of infections here,” he said. The Minister sought the cooperation of people to contain the spread of infection by adhering to the norms of safety.