Puducherry, April 7:Coronavirus Disease (COVID 19) infections continue to spike with 173 more persons testing positive for the virus with one death reported in the last 24 hours ending at 1000 hrs on Wednesday, taking the tally of infection to 42,949 and death to 687 in the union territory.

The lone death was reported in the Puducherry region.

According to the Covid 19 status released by the health department, of the 1149 swab tests taken yesterday,173 tested positive for the virus. A total of 168 new cases were reported in the Puducherry region and five in the Karaikal region. As many as 125 persons were discharged in the last 24 hours .91 of them were from the Puducherry region,33 from the Karaikal region, and one from the Mahe region.

Presently,382 persons are being treated in the Puducherry region,56 in Karaikal,12 in Yanam, and three in Mahe. Another 1367 positive cases are under home isolation in all four regions of the union territory.

So far,42949 persons were infected by the virus of which 40442 were treated and discharged and 687 died leaving 1820 active cases here. The caste fatality rate in UT is 1.60 percent and the recovery rate 94.16 percent.

A 67-year-old man Natarajan, with Type II Diabetes mellitus, Systemic Hypertension, and Bronchial Asthma died in the government medical college due to Covid Pneumonia and Dyselectrolytemia.

As many as 82815 persons were given Covid vaccine so far in the UT. This includes 28342 health care workers,16291 Front line workers, and 38182 general public. (UNI)