NE NEWS SERVICE
PUDUCHERRY, OCT 21
Puducherry Chief Minister V Narayanasamy on Wednesday said the Union Territory was now seeing a drop in COVID-19 cases but it was not good to be lax as crowding during the forthcoming festivals could cause the spread of the virus further.
21-10-2020 | Press meeting Highlights from #Puducherry pic.twitter.com/hnvpWwSvC2
— Office of Ex CM V Narayanasamy (@ExcmPuducherry) October 21, 2020
While speaking to reporters here, the Chief Minister referred to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s address to the nation asking people not to lower their guard in the fight against the coronavirus. Narayanasamy further said there should be utmost care and caution so that there is no scope for the virus to spread during the festivals.
Also, he referred to the alarming number of people gathering in the weekly markets here on Sundays, causing concern among the authorities. He said the territorial government has decided that the Sunday market in the heart of the town would not be permitted after Ayudha Pooja and the market would be shifted to Subbiah Salai.
The Chief Minister said despite repeated warning, the merchants still spread their wares in the open during the Sunday market in the heart of the town, causing crowding. He asked nationalised banks’ branches here to take care of the loan requirements of farmers, fishermen and dairy farmers by utilising Rs 2,100 crore earmarked for distribution as loan to farmers alone.
Narayanasamy asked the Central government to ban online card games like Rummy in the light of the recent alleged suicide of a man from here, who lost Rs 40 lakh in a card game.
The Chief Minister said the territorial government has intensified implementation of Goondas Act. “Those undergoing imprisonment in the Central Prison here were contacting people (criminals) outside through mobile phones made available to them with the alleged connivance of jail staff,” he said.
The inmates were directing the criminals outside to collect mamools, he said. “Even the jammer in the prison was made non-functional which enabled the communication of criminals in and outside the jail,” he said. Stringent action would be taken on the issue, he said. The prison authorities had seized some mobile phones inside the prison and this crackdown would continue, he said.
3 succumb to coronavirus; toll mounts to 580 in Puducherry
Three people, including a 78- year old woman, died of COVID-19 on Wednesday, taking the toll to 580 in the union territory. In the last 24 hours ending 10 am today, 175 new cases were identified at the end of examination of 4,033 samples, raising the overall cases to 33,622.
A release from the Department of Health and Family Welfare here said while there were 4,026 active cases, 29,016 patients recovered and were discharged so far. As many as 242 patients recovered and were discharged during last 24 hours. The release said 2.74 lakh samples have been tested so far and of them 2.37 lakh were found to be negative and result of examination of remaining samples was awaited.
The fatality rate and recovery rate were 1.73 percent and 86.30 percent respectively. Of the 175 new cases, Puducherry region accounted for 138 cases followed by 21 in Karaikal and eight each from Mahe and Yanam regions.
The 78-year old woman died of the illness in the Government General Hospital in Mahe, while the other two patients aged 73 and 54 died in Puducherry and Karaikal regions. Yanam region did not report any fatality today, the release said.
