Two elderly persons succumb to COVID-19 in Puducherry; 139 new cases take overall tally to 3,593

Two elderly persons succumbed to COVID-19 in Puducherry while 139 fresh cases were reported on Saturday, a top Health department official said. The 139 new cases took the overall tally in the union territory to 3,593, Director of Health and Family Welfare S Mohan Kumar said in a press release. The two deaths reported during the last 24 hours ending 10 am on Saturday pushed the coronavirus toll to 51. Both the patients were 75 years old and hailed from the Puducherry region.

While one of the patients died at the Indira Gandhi Government Medical college (IGGMC) hospital of the State government the other succumbed to the infection at the centrally-administered JIPMER. He said while there were 1,357 active cases in the union territory, 2,185 patients had recovered and had been discharged so far.

The 139 fresh cases were identified at the end of testing of 945 samples during the last 24 hours, projecting a positivity rate of 14.7 per cent and the fatality rate at 1.4 per cent. Yanam, an enclave of Puducherry in Andhra Pradesh accounted for 42 of the 139 fresh cases while Puducherry reported 94 and Karaikal (3) while none was reported from Mahe.

There were 223 patients in home quarantine- 212 in Puducherry and 11 in Yanam. The Health Department Director said 85 patients were discharged during the last 24 hours. Of the 39,707 samples tested so far 35,345 samples were found to be negative.