NE NEWS SERVICE
PUDUCHERRY, JULY 4
A 53-year-old man succumbed to COVID-19 at a hospital in Puducherry while 80 fresh cases were reported, pushing the infection tally in the union territory to 904 on Saturday.
Director of Health and Family Welfare S Mohan Kumar said on Saturday that the patient, a chain smoker, from this town died of the illness at the Indira Gandhi Government Medical College Hospital here.
“The man had respiratory trouble also although he had no other complications such as diabetes and blood pressure. He tested positive for infection. His condition worsened and died on Friday.” A medical bulletin of the Department of Health and Family Welfare pointed out that 80 fresh cases were identified during the last 24 hours ending 10 a.m. on Saturday at the end of testing of 480 samples, pushing tally to 904.
While there were 485 active cases, 405 patients were treated and discharged so far. With the death of one person, the total fatalities rose to 14. Of the fresh cases, 40 were men and the women accounted for remaining 40 cases. The bulletin said while four patients were less than 18 years, twelve patients were above 60. The remaining 64 patients were in the age group of 18 to 60 years. While 76 of the 80 patients were admitted to IGGMC hospital (66) and to JIPMER (10), Karaikal and Yanam had two active cases each. Eighteen patients were discharged during the last 24 hours, the bulletin said.
Of the 19,560 samples tested so far, 18,375 samples were negative and results of examination of the remaining samples were awaited, the report said. The 80 positive cases reported now is the second biggest number after 87 tested positive for the virus on June 27, Health Minister Malladi Krishna Rao told reporters. Rao reiterated that the people should extend their cooperation as the Health Department alone could not play any role without participation of the public. “Unless people’s cooperation is available the number of cases would keep increasing. We would not be able to arrest the surge in the absence of pro-active role of the public. There should be strict adherence to norms of wearing of masks, social distancing and using sanitiser,” he said.
The government had ramped up tests of samples for the last few days to zero in on the prevalence of the infection. Mobile units have been pressed into service in rural areas to collect samples for examination.
