In a welcome development, the union territory of Puducherry reported no fresh fatalities due to Covid-19 on Sunday for the first time this month while the test positivity rate dropped to 4.3 per cent.
The infection count rose to 33,141 with the addition of 177 cases while recoveries outnumbered with 306 patients being discharged after treatment from various hospitals during the last 24 hours ending at 10 AM, an official said.
The toll remained unchanged at 574 as no death due to the coronavirus occurred during the period, Health and Family Welfare department Nodal Officer Ramesh said.
This was the first time there was no Covid-19 fatality this month in the UT which has been witnessing a declining trend in number of deaths in recent days, he told a virtual press meet.
Ramesh said the fatality rate was 1.73 per cent and the recovery rate was 85.36 per cent. The case positivity rate had also come down to 4.3 per cent which "is quite encouraging", he said, adding 177 new cases were identified from 4,072 samples in the last 24 hours.
There has been an improvement in the pandemic situation in the UT in recent days after it had witnessed a steady increase in cases and deaths in the past few months with the fatality rate touching the two per cent mark, above the then national average of 1.6 per cent, during September.
Of the fresh cases on Sunday, Puducherry accounted for 131, Karaikal 24, Yanam six and Mahe reported 16 cases.
A total of 2.63 lakh samples had been sent for testing and of this 2.26 lakh samples were found negative and results of remaining awaited, the officer said. The overall Covid-19 cases in Puducherry (after transfer of 14 cases to Tamil Nadu) was 33,141 of which 4,277 were active.
The officer said that 28,290 patients recovered and had been discharged. He appealed to the people to ensure that the trend of reduced positivity rate, absence of death and other encouraging features were maintained particularly in the coming days of festivals.