NE NEWS SERVICE
PUDUCHERRY, JAN 9
Puducherry clocked 444 fresh coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours as the test positivity rate shot up to 13.87 percent, a top Health department official said on Sunday.
The 444 infections took the overall tally in the union territory to 1,30,722, Director of Health Department G Sriramulu said in a release here.
No fatality was reported in the last 24 hours ending 10 am Sunday, he said, adding the death toll stood at 1,882. He said the fresh cases were identified at the end of the examination of 3,202 were spread over Puducherry (350), Karaikal (84), Mahe (nine) and Yanam (one).
The number of active cases stood at 1,250 with 100 patients undergoing treatment in hospitals and the remaining 1,150 in home isolation. While 19 patients recovered and were discharged during the last 24 hours, the overall recoveries climbed to 1,27,590, the Director said.
The test positivity rate was 13.87 percent while the fatality and recovery rates were 1.44 percent and 97.60 percent respectively, he added. The Health Department has so far tested 20,70,234 samples and has found 17,58,237 out of them to be negative.
The Department has so far administered 14,63,660 doses which comprised 8,84,314 first doses and 5,79,346 second doses. Meanwhile, a spokesperson of the Health Department on Sunday said that the number of fresh cases was likely to increase further.
“We have recommended to the government to close schools now conducting classes for students of standards one to nine,” the spokesperson said.
“It has been found that by and large the ailment spreads from children to elders,” the spokesperson said and added that it had therefore been recommended to the government to cancel the classes until further orders. Schools reopened on December 4 for classes for standards one to eight after clamping Covid protocols. Since the current vaccination drive was covering those in the 15 to 18 years age-group, classes for students of standards X, XI and XII would be held for some days and if necessity arose, they too could be suspended until further orders.
Administration steps up surveillance at borders
The Puducherry administration on Saturday decided to strengthen its border surveillance as part of measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 amid rising cases of Omicron variant.
In a press release, District Collector E Vallavan said a joint meeting of officials of the Revenue, Health, Police and Local Administration departments was held earlier in the day to decide several measures to keep vigil on the spread of the virus.
He said the preventive measures discussed and decided at the meeting, included enforcement of steps with immediate effect to strengthen surveillance at the border points by teams comprising health officials and the police.
This measure was aimed at ensuring entry of people into Puducherry with at least one dose of vaccination against COVID-19 and also for identification of people with symptoms. The entry points from Tamil Nadu to Puducherry are from Dindivanam, Cuddalore, Villupuram and Marakkanam (ECR segment).
Vallavan said officials of the Revenue, Local Administration, Labour, Health, Police and Municipalities would conduct joint inspections to keep close vigil on hotels, malls, market places, theatres and gatherings at the marriage celebrations.
The inspection team would ensure that there was adherence to COVID-appropriate behaviour. If they find any lapse of shortcoming in following the safety norms, the officials would seal the premises particularly with repeated violations.
Vallavan said all commercial establishments should ensure that hand sanitisers and thermal scanners were in place on their premises and there should be markings for social distancing by customers. The collector said hotels, lodges and restaurants should also introduce necessary changes in system of booking for accommodation to ensure that only vaccinated people check in to the rooms.
