Fresh COVID-19 cases in the Union Territory of Puducherry dropped to 13 from 1,755 tests, as infection rate touched a new low of less than 1% and active cases remained below the 1,000-mark on Monday. No deaths were reported in the last 24 hours.
The test positivity rate stood at 0.74%, the case fatality rate at 1.67% and the recovery rate at 95.84%.
With 95 patients discharged from hospitals during the last 24 hours, the total number of recovered patients stood at 34,827. The cumulative death toll in the Union Territory is 608, the overall case load is 36,337 and the number of active cases stands at 902 — 265 at hospitals and 637 in home isolation.
Puducherry accounted for 12 of the fresh cases, with one case reported in Mahe.
Lt. Governor Kiran Bedi said that sustaining the intensive information, education and communication campaign, enforcement and testing till the Pongal festival would be the strategy to maintain the low positivity and taper down the cases. Joint enforcement activities would continue in the identified hot-spot areas of Rainbow Nagar, Sultanpet, Villianur and Murungapakkam, she said.
With the onset of the northeast monsoon, the District Collector has been tasked with convening weekly coordination meetings with the Public Works, Local Administration and Rural Development Departments for concerted preventive work against COVID-19 and dengue.
Employees of malls, shops, textile shops and sweet stalls will be subjected to testing. The Town and Country Planning Department will frame a vacant land policy to ensure proper maintenance of plots that are breeding grounds for mosquitoes and poisonous insects/reptiles.
Meanwhile, the Covid War Room has finalised the roster and topics of messaging by the PHC medical officers on the community radio. Over four weeks, the broadcast will focus on activities undertaken to prevent the contagion, the importance of testing and highlighting symptoms, the need for early hospitalisation and seeking medical advice and the role and responsibility of the public in the fight against the pandemic.
According to the Lt. Governor, research would be encouraged by postgraduate students of IGMCRI, JIPMER and private medical colleges on the various verticals of COVID-19 management for documentation of the ‘Puducherry model’ of bringing the pandemic under control.
