The test positivity rate declined further with 268 new cases reported from over 4,200 tests on Tuesday even as the overall COVID-19 tally crossed 32,000 cases in the Union Territory.
The test positivity rate touched a new low of 6.30% in over three months while case fatality rate declined to 1.77%. The recovery rate was 83.94%.
Lieutenant Governor Kiran Bedi said there should be no let up in the enforcement of safety norms in spite of the fall in test positivity rate. The system of random sampling could be taken as part of survey of state of health and as a form of feedback on the ground situation, she said.
Ms. Bedi, who reviewed the situation with officials, had given instructions to get the LED screen of the Tourism Department at the beach repaired and use it for running awareness messages.
Meanwhile, two more persons, including a 60-year-old woman, died of COVID-19, taking the toll to 567. Both fatalities were recorded in Karaikal where the toll stands at 51.
For the first time in nearly three months, no COVID-19 casualty was reported in the capital. The deaths in Puducherry is 470, Yanam 42 and Mahe four.
Health Minister Malladi Krishna Rao told a press meet that 268 new cases were registered at the end of testing of 4,249 samples on Tuesday, raising the overall tally to 32,004 cases.
With 310 patients discharged on Tuesday, 26,865 patients had recovered so far in the U.T.
Of the 4,572 active patients, 2,944 patients were in home isolation. Puducherry accounted for 202 new cases out of 268 fresh infections, followed by 36 in Karaikal, 8 in Yanam and 22 in Mahe region.
Mr. Rao said retired health officials were willing to volunteer their services to help contain the pandemic. The health department is looking at forming teams to carry out post-COVID health check-up on recovered patients.
Of the 2.41 lakh samples tested by the health department, 2.06 lakh samples were negative.