Puducherry coronavirus update: 20 die; 591 new cases recorded in UT

Twenty people including eight

women succumbed to COVID-19 in Puducherry, while 591 more tested positive to the virus on Friday, pushing the tally to 16,172.

Most of the patients who died of the viral infection had co-morbidities and the age group of the deceased was between 36 and 81 years.

With 20 more deaths reported during the last 24 hours, the toll rose to 280.

Director of Health and Family Welfare S Mohan Kumar said in a release that 591 fresh cases were identified at the end of examination of 1,846 samples.

Of the total 16,172 positive cases, the union territory had 5,218 active cases while 10,674 patients recovered and were discharged.

The official said 395 patients were discharged during last 24 hours from hospitals.

The fatality rate was 1.73 percent while recovery rate was 66 percent.

He said 80,201 samples were tested so far and 62,654 out of them were found to be negative.

Of the 5,218 active cases, 1,801 patients were in hospitals while the remaining 3,417 patients were home quarantined, he said.

Of the total 591 new cases reported on Friday, the number of new cases in Puducherry alone were 525 followed by 44 in Yanam, 18 in Karaikal and 4 in Mahe region.