No positive case of COVID-19 in last 10 days: Govt official

Puducherry, Apr 23 () There is some good news fromthe Union territory as there has been no fresh case ofcoronavirus here in the last 10 days, according to agovernment official.

Secretary to Health and Family Welfare ServicesPrashant Kumar Panda told reporters here on Thursday that itwas heartening to see that Puducherry has no community spreador infection of the pandemic.

Because of the cooperation and discipline of thepeople in adhering to social distancing norms, there has beenno community infection, he said.

There were only three active cases in the IndiraGandhi Government Medical College Hospital, a COVID-19hospital here, at present, as already four patients weredischarged on different dates after recovery.

He said health workers conducted door-to-doorsurveillance in the Union Territory since the last few days.

So far, 9.91 lakh people in 2.60 lakh houses werecovered and soon the remaining population (Puducherry hastotal population of 13 lakh) would be covered, Panda said.

Director of Health and Family Welfare Services S MohanKumar said the ICMR had recognised the Indira Gandhi MedicalCollege hospital, a Puducherry government institution, as atesting centre next to JIPMER. "We are already testing theswabs at the hospital which is already a COVID- 19 hospitalhere using the RT-PCR equipment," he said.

Kumar said the medical college hospital would be ofhelp to conduct the tests and come out with the resultswithout loss of time. He said tele-medicine facility would beintroduced soon so that the patients would be saved of thenecessity to come to the hospitals and get counselling fromtheir places of residence with medical experts.

"We will also prescribe medicines through telemedicine mode," the director said.

Already, the entry points to Puducherry fromneighbouring Tamil Nadu districts of Villupuram and Cuddalorehad been sealed to ensure there was no flow of patients fromthe neighbouring state into Puducherry which has establisheda good record in preventing the spread of the infection.

"Only very serious cases will be permitted for treatmentin the hospitals here," he said.

He said Puducherry had now returned to Stage-one fromstage-two as there was no fresh case of infection and therewere only three active cases in the COVID-19 hospital. He Sthanked all sections of health professionals, policeand other departments for the team work in ensuring strictvigil against the spread of the pandemic in the UnionTerritory. CORNVG NVG