Puducherry added 31 new COVID-19 cases on Friday to take the Union Territory’s overall tally past the 39,000 cases mark.
No death was reported in the Union Territory over the last 24 hours.
Meanwhile, the government has issued a set of guidelines for surveillance, containment and caution against COVID-19 that would be in effect till February 28, on the basis of a directive from the Ministry of Home Affairs.
The new cases, which were confirmed from testing 2,961 samples, were most in Puducherry (16), followed by Mahe (12) and Karaikal (three).
The Yanam enclave did not report any new case.
With 27 patients discharged from hospitals, the number of active cases in the Union Territory stood at 295. Of this, 108 were in hospitals and 187 in home isolation.
The test positivity rate was 1.04%, case fatality rate 1.66% and recovery rate 97.58%.
The coronavirus tally in the Union Territory stood at 647 deaths, a total caseload of 39,004 and 38,062 patients recovered so far.
Of an estimated 5.70 lakh samples tested so far by the Health Department, about 5.27 lakh were negative.
Violation punishable
In a seven-page order extending the state of alert against the coronavirus till the end of February and essentially reiterating the national directives for COVID-19 management, District Collector Purva Garg said any violation of guidelines would be punishable under provisions of the Disaster Management Act, 2005 and Epidemic Act.
Though the number of active cases of COVID-19 has been declining steadily over the last four months, in order to consolidate the substantial gains against the spread of COVID-19, and to fully overcome the pandemic, there is a need to maintain caution and strictly follow the prescribed containment strategy, focused on surveillance, containment and strict observance of the guidelines, the order said.
The detailed set of guidelines take effect from February 1, the order said.
10 new cases
Cuddalore district reported 10 fresh cases of COVID-19 on Friday, taking the district’s tally to 24,920.
While 24,598 persons have been discharged, the number of active cases in the district stands at 19.
In Kallakurichi district, three persons tested positive, taking the total number of positive cases in the district to 10,869.
Villupuram district reported one positive case, taking the overall count to 15,176.