Puducherry added 115 newly-infected COVID-19 patients to its overall tally on Wednesday and one more death raised the toll to 605 even as authorities propose to compulsorily test violators of COVID-19 etiquette on a chargeable basis.
A 57-year-old woman died at the IGMCRI after developing severe COVID pneumonia/acute respiratory distress syndrome. With this, the toll in the capital went up to 497. Karaikal has so far seen 57 deaths, Yanam 44 and Mahe seven.
The new cases were identified from 3,921 tests conducted in the last 24 hours even as 107 patients were discharged after recovery from hospitals. Puducherry region accounted for 83 followed by Karaikal 6, Yanam 9 and Mahe 17.
The test positivity rate was 2.93%, case fatality rate 1.68% and recovery rate 95.04%. Of the 3.47 lakh samples tested so far, 3.06 lakh were found to be negative.
The overall tally in the Union Territory is 605 deaths, 1,077 active cases, a cumulative total of 36,114 cases and 34,432 recovered patients.
Meanwhile, S. V. Sugumaran, AINRC MLA representing Mangalam, who turned symptomatic shortly after attending a public function last week, got himself tested and the results returned positive for coronavirus on Monday. He is undergoing treatment at a private hospital in Chennai.
Among the public figures who recovered are Ministers M. Kandasamy and R. Kamalakannan and three MLAs. Former AINRC MLA V. Balan died after testing positive for COVID-19. Lt. Governor Kiran Bedi said the Collector has been asked to notify the public that violators of COVID etiquette would be compulsorily taken to PHC and subjected to testing and provided with masks on a charge basis. A meeting has been scheduled with ICMR representatives for finalising data management and information flow systems to collate and share info for overall COVID-19 management.
College students who join the performances at Beach promenade coordinated by Principal Bal Bhavan to raise awareness will be recognised with participation certificates and awards for best performers. An advisory is to be issued to Nehru Street traders to engage more manpower to regulate crowd at their shops, Ms. Bedi said.
