The deaths of three elderly COVID-19 patients took the fatalities to 21 in the Union Territory on Wednesday.
Health officials said while a 76-year-old man from Muthialpet died in the IGMCRI, a 62-year-old woman from Lawspet and a man aged 75 from Reddiarpalayam died at Jipmer.
During the last 24 hours, 67 new cases have been confirmed while testing 687 swabs. Of these, 57 are in Puducherry and 10 in Yanam, Sreeramulu, Head, Department of Surgery, Government General Hospital, said.
The Goubert market was sealed after six vendors tested positive.
Puducherry accounted for 603 of the 686 persons undergoing treatment. This included 360 patients at IGMCRI, 132 at Jipmer and 111 in COVID care centres. Besides, there are 55 patients in Karaikal GH, 27 in Yanam GH and one in Mahe GH.
To date, 889 patients have been discharged after recovery including 60 persons on Wednesday.
Of the 27,229 samples tested, 25,264 have been negative while results of 302 are pending.
The death rate among elderly persons has been increasing, according to J. Ramesh, Head, Department of Medicine, GH. All the three patients who died had co-morbidities, he said.
He advised the elderly to remain at home and take their prescribed medicines regularly.