Andaman & Nicobar Islands coronavirus update: 12 new Covid cases reported

Andaman and Nicobar Islands

COVID-19 caseload rose to 7,131 as 12 more people tested positive for the virus, while one fresh fatality pushed the death toll in the union territory to 123, a health department official said on Tuesday.

Nine new cases were detected during contact tracing while three were airport arrivals.

All passengers arriving by flight in the union territory have to undergo a mandatory rapid antigen test before they are allowed entry into the islands.

Eighteen more people were cured of the disease during the period, taking the total number of recoveries in the archipelago to 6,912.

The union territory now has 96 active COVID-19 cases, of which 91 are in South Andaman district and five in North and Middle Andaman district, the official said, adding that the Nicobar district has no active coronavirus case at present.

The administration has so far tested 3,91,273 samples for COVID-19 and the cumulative test positivity rate is 1.82 per cent.

The union territory which has a total population of 4 lakh people has so far inoculated 1,28,412 people of which 1,11,013 have received the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine and 17,399 have received both doses of the vaccine.

Meanwhile, the Information, Publicity and Tourism Secretary of Andaman and Nicobar Island, S K Singh on Monday announced that the administration has decided to further extend the lockdown in the archipelago till June 14.

Singh said though the number of COVID-19 cases in the islands has come down marginally, but, we cannot be complacent with the marginal decline and as a precautionary measure, the administration has decided to further extend the lockdown till June 14".