Elderly man succumbs to Covid-19 in Puducherry, 64 fresh cases

A 74-year old man succumbed to coronavirus in Puducherry taking the toll to 18 while 64 fresh infections were reported on Saturday pushing the overall tally of cases to 1,337.

Health Minister Malladi Krishna Rao told reporters here that the total number of patients treated and discharged so far from hospitals was 690 while fatalities were 18.

The cumulative total of Covid-19 cases in the union territory stood at 1,337, of which the active cases were 629.

As many as 51 patients (22 from Government Medical College Hospital, 18 from JIPMER and 11 from COVID Care centres) had recovered and were discharged during the last 24 hours, he said.

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Director of Health and Family Welfare S Mohan Kumar said the elderly man who died of the infection at the Indira Gandhi Government Medical College hospital was admitted on July 9 evening with respiratory problems and passed away a few hours later.

The patient did not have any other complications like diabetes or blood pressure, he added.

Meanwhile, the Minister said that the 64 fresh cases were identified at the end of the examination of 857 samples during the last 24 hours, showing the rate of positive cases at 7.5 percent while the death rate was 1.3 percent.

He said as many as 22,819 samples turned out to be negative so far out of the total 24,485 samples tested in the Union Territory.

Of the 64 fresh cases identified during the last 24 hours ending 10 am today, 39 patients were admitted to Government Medical College hospital in Puducherry while nine were admitted to the centrally-administered JIPMER.

Ten new cases were admitted to the government GH in Karaikal while five were admitted in a hospital in Yanam (an enclave of Puducherry in Andhra Pradesh) and one in a hospital in Mahe region (an enclave of Puducherry in Kerala).

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Mohan Kumar appealed to elderly persons not to take the situation for granted as they are more vulnerable than others to the infection.

Rao said he had been urging Chief Minister V Narayanasamy to declare 'total lockdown' on Sundays to contain the spread of the virus.

He said though the chief minister had, however, announced on Friday that a total lockdown would not be feasible on Sundays, particularly on July 12 when functions like marriages have been scheduled.

"I hope the Chief Minister would consider my plea and impose total lockdown at least on subsequent Sundays in a bid to keep the virus at bay," the Minister added.

He said the government was ramping up testing with mobile units visiting villages to collect swabs from people who would otherwise go to urban areas for tests.

"We will intensify examination constituency-wise as our effort is to keep Puducherry out of bounds for the virus," the Health Minister said while urging the people to cooperate by adhering to safety norms.