13 deaths, 518 new cases recorded in Union Territory

The overall COVID-19 case tally in Puducherry went past 21,000 while 13 more deaths raised the toll to 418.

The capital registered 10 deaths, Karaikal two and Yanam one. The case fatality was 1.98 per cent.

S. Mohan Kumar, Health Director, said the U.T. recorded 518 new cases while 401 patients were discharged during the last 24 hours. The recovery rate stood at 75.43 per cent.

The U.T.’s tally stood at 418 deaths, 4,770 active cases, a cumulative total of 21,111 cases and 15,923 patients have been discharged.

The new cases were recorded at the end of examination of 5,709 samples — an infection rate of about 9 per cent. Puducherry region accounted for 423 cases followed by 58 in Karaikal, 20 in Yanam and 17 in Mahe.

So far, 1.13 lakh samples were tested with 88,166 returning negative.

“One of the main concerns is the high number of deaths. Delayed reporting to a hospital is one of the main reasons as over 70 per cent of deaths occurred within 48 hours of admission,” T. Arun, Collector told reporters at a press meet.

He urged the public to seek medical help if they experienced ILI (Influenza Like Illness) or Severe Acute Respiratory Infections (SARI) symptoms. ASHA workers and other volunteers have also been trained to identify and refer symptomatic patients to a testing facility.

The testing volumes had more than doubled mainly in the span of a week due to establishment of 21 COVID focus centres that did not require patients to visit a COVID designated hospital and launch of 17 mobile teams to do both rapid antigen and RT-PCR tests, Mr. Arun said.

The vulnerable groups — elderly, children and patients with renal problems, cancer, diabetes or hypertension — should take extra precautions. He appealed to the public to cooperate with safety guidelines to sustain the progress that had been made.

There is sufficient availability of beds (an occupancy of 33 per cent against over 5,000 beds), oxygen beds, equipment and medicines, Mr. Arun said.