Record single day high 554 fresh COVID-19 cases pushes tally in Pondy past 9k mark

Puducherry on Thursday reported a record single day spike of 554 fresh COVID-19 cases taking the overall tally in the union territory past the 9,000 mark, a top Health department official said.

The 554 new infections took the cumulative number to 9,292, Director of Health and Family Welfare S Mohan Kumar said in a release. This is the first time, over 500 new cases were reported on a single day.

The new cases were detected after examination of 1,388 samples during the last 24 hours ending 10 am Thursday. He also said nine patients including three women succumbed to the virus on Wednesday, pushing the toll to 137.

Most of the nine patients who died had comorbidities and they were in the age group ranging between 54 and 84 years.

As many as 322 patients were discharged during the last 24 four hours, he added.

Of the 9,292 cumulative infections, 3,521 were active cases while 5,634 patients have recovered and have been discharged.

The Department of Health and Family Welfare has tested 59,757 samples so far and found 48,902 of them to be negative.

Results of examination of remaining specimens were awaited, Mohan Kumar said.

The fatality rate in Puducherry is presently 1.47 per cent while recovery rate is 60.63 per cent.