The COVID-19 toll ticked up to 75 after five more deaths were recorded in Puducherry on Friday even as the active cases swelled to 1,873 with 244 new admissions in the last 24 hours.
All the fatalities, which included three women, were recorded in Puducherry — four at IGMCRI and one in JIPMER.
Four of the victims suffered from other co-morbities such as diabetes and hypertension. The fifth victim was brought dead and later tested positive for COVID-19, S. Mohan Kumar, Director of Health, said.
233 new admissions
While 233 of the new admissions were recorded in Puducherry, 10 were in Karaikal and two in Yanam.
In addition to this, 567 patients are under home isolation — 518 in Puducherry and 49 in Yanam.
The infection rate for the 24-hour period was 28.5% with 244 positives from testing 856 samples while case fatality rate increased to 1.5% from 1.4%.
Of the 1,873 persons currently undergoing institutional treatment, 1,097 are in Puducherry, 88 in Karaikal GH, 117 in Yanam GH and four in Mahe. So far, 2,914 patients were cured and discharged, including 77 on Friday.
More samples tested
Till now, 45,098 samples have been tested, of which 39,554 samples have returned negative and the results of 226 samples are pending.
Meanwhile, M. Kandasamy, Welfare Minister, and his son, who were admitted to JIPMER after testing positive, were discharged.