Puducherry recorded two COVID-19 deaths and 212 new cases on Thursday.
The fatalities involved a 55-year-old man in Puducherry and a 65-year-old woman in Karaikal.
The overall tally stood at 582 deaths, 4,039 active cases, including 2,517 patients in home isolation, a cumulative total of 33,832 cases and 29,211 recovered patients.
The test positivity rate was 5.51%, case fatality rate 1.72% and recovery rate 86.34%.
The new cases were detected from testing 3,847 samples.
Puducherry accounted for 167 of the new cases, followed by Karaikal (20), Yanam (12) and Mahe (13).
In all, 195 patients were discharged in the last 24 hours.
The death toll by region is Puducherry (480), Karaikal (54), Yanam (42) and Mahe (six).
The Health Department has so far tested 2,78,193 samples of which 2,41,023 returned negative.
Health Minister Malladi Krishna Rao said a decision had been taken to fully utilise the vacant beds at the IGMCRI.
Earlier, while only critical patients were referred to the facility, it has now been decided to send non-critical patients too to the IGMCRI, which was now fully equipped in terms of facilities and manpower, the Minister said.
Meanwhile, Lt. Governor Kiran Bedi has instructed officials to explore ways to decongest the fish market through relocation or changing timings.
Time extension
Extension of shop timings is also under consideration to diffuse crowds.
The permission order for organisations to organise protests would include a clause binding them to follow safety protocols.
