20 new cases push COVID-19 tally of Andamans to 6,984

The COVID-19 caseload in Andaman and Nicobar Islands rose to 6,984 as 20 more people tested positive for the disease in the Union Territory, a health department official said on Monday.

Two new patients have travel history and others were detected during contact tracing, he said.

The death toll rose to 114 as one more fatality due to the infection was reported in the last 24 hours, the official said.

At least 23 people were cured of the disease during the period, taking the total number of recoveries in the archipelago to 6,683.

The Union Territory now has 187 active cases.

The local administration has been strict to contain the spread of the disease and has adopted an approach of tracking, testing and treating, he said, adding that people arriving here from the mainland are mandatorily required to undergo rapid antigen test.

Information, publicity, and tourism secretary Sunil Kumar Singh urged people to cooperate with the administration to combat the spread of the virus. He appealed to them to maintain discipline by strictly adhering to COVID-appropriate behaviour.

Altogether, 1,25,285 people have been inoculated and 17,363 of them having received both doses of the vaccine.

Of the total number of people inoculated so far, 6,695 citizens in the age group of 18 to 44 years have received vaccine shots, the official said.

The Andaman and Nicobar administration has conducted 3,85,988 sample tests for COVID-19 so far, and the positivity rate stands at 1.81 per cent.