Port Blair:
Forty-five more people tested positive for COVID-19 in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, pushing the coronavirus tally in the union territory of 5,614, a health department official said on Sunday.
The COVID-19 death toll rose to 66 as one more person succumbed to the disease in the last 24 hours, he said
Thirty-eight new COVID-19 cases were detected during contact tracing while seven were airport arrivals, the official said.
Passengers arriving by flight from other places have to take the Rapid Antigen Test at the airport here before they are allowed entry into the islands.
Fifty-two people recovered from the disease in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of COVID-19 recoveries in the archipelago to 5,410.
The union territory now has 138 active COVID-19 cases with 130 patients in South Andaman district and eight in North and Middle Andaman district. The Nicobar district has no active COVID-19 case at present, he said.
The administration has so far tested over 3,61,594 samples for COVID-19. The test positivity rate is 1.55 per cent, he said.
Meanwhile, chief secretary Jitendra Narain Saturday interacted with heads of representatives of all religions in Andaman and Nicobar Islands and sought their active cooperation in the administration’s fight against COVID-19.
The chief secretary said if the number of cases in the islands crosses a certain mark, the administration will be forced to take stringent measures.
He opined that religious heads can also play a major role in reaching out to the people and making them understand the benefits of getting vaccinated and the importance of wearing masks and maintaining social distancing and hand wash.
