Puducherry records new high of 200 COVID-19 cases

Siddha treatment to be offered to patients who opt for it: CM

Chief Minister V. Narayanasamy

In a new 24-hour high, Puducherry reported 200 COVID-19 cases on Sunday even as one more death took the toll to 52.

The infection rate was at 22.6 per cent (886 samples tested) and the case fatality 1.4 per cent.

The latest victim was a 65-year-old man who died at Jipmer due to Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome and COVID pneumonia sequelae.

Puducherry accounted for 161 new admissions, Karaikal 7 and Yanam 32. Mahe remains a green zone.

Active cases

With 111 patients discharged in the last 24 hours, the active cases stood at 1,445. The case numbers in Puducherry alone aggregated 1,034. There are also 242 patients in home quarantine, including 231 in Puducherry and 11 in Yanam.

So far, of the 40,652 samples tested, 36,142 were negative. The tally is 52 deaths, cumulative total of 3,806 cases and 2,309 patients discharged.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister V. Narayanasamy said Siddha treatment would soon be offered to COVID-19 patients who opt for it. Pointing out that Siddha treatment was popular in Tamil Nadu, the Chief Minister said similar facilities would be made available to patients in Puducherry.

Yanam was seeing a spike in cases due to its proximity to East Godavari region, Mr. Narayanasamy said. Malladi Krishna Rao, Health Minister and T. Arun, Health Secretary are camping there to strengthen the infrastructure and supervise operations, he added.

According to the Chief Minister, only 10 per cent of the patients in the Union Territory developed acute COVID-19 symptoms and required intensive care. A majority of the patients suffered mild to moderate symptoms and recovered on treatment. Mr. Narayanasamy had earlier visited vegetable and fish markets and shopping centres in and around Puducherry and advised merchants and shoppers to adhere to safety norms.