30 COVID-19 cases in Pondy: tally climbs to 534

Puducherry registered 30 fresh COVID-19 cases on Friday, pushing the tally of those infected with the virus in the Union Territory to 534.

Health Minister Malladi Krishna Rao told reporters that the 30 new cases were identified after testing 590 samples during the last 24 hoursending 10 am on Friday.

Of the 30 patients,27 were admitted to Indira Gandhi Government Medical College hospital in neighbouring Kadirkamam and the remaining three patients were admitted to the GH in Karaikal.

The overall tally includes two persons belonging to Puducherry already taking treatment in Cuddalore and Chidambaram in neighbouring Tamil Nadu.

The total active cases were 322 while 203 patients were treated and discharged.

The fatalities continued to remain at 9 while no death was reported during last 24 hours.

Rao appealed to the people to be very careful and adhere to norms of lockdown.

He noted that Puducherry had been witnessing not less than 25 cases on an average every day.

He said people should consider the prevailing situation and adhere to the norms of lockdown so that there would be no spread of the pandemic.

Director of Health and Family Welfare S Mohan Kumar,who was also present, said while eight containment zones were removed from the list of zones, 17 new areas were declared as containment zones in Puducherry in view of occurrence of the pandemic.

To reduce the burden in the medical college hospital, around 45 patients were shifted to the Government Dental college and to a private hospital, he added.