There is some good news fromthe Union territory as there has been no fresh case of coronavirus here in the last 10 days, according to a government official.Secretary to Health and Family Welfare Services Prashant Kumar Panda told reporters here on Thursday that it was heartening to see that Puducherry has no community spread or infection of the pandemic.Because of the cooperation and discipline of the people in adhering to social distancing norms, there has been no community infection, he said.There were only three active cases in the Indira Gandhi Government Medical College Hospital, a COVID-19 hospital here, at present, as already four patients were discharged on different dates after recovery.He said health workers conducted door-to-door surveillance in the Union Territory since the last few days.So far, 9.91 lakh people in 2.60 lakh houses were covered and soon the remaining population (Puducherry has total population of 13 lakh) would be covered, Panda said.Director of Health and Family Welfare Services S Mohan Kumar said the ICMR had recognised the Indira Gandhi Medical College hospital, a Puducherry government institution, as a testing centre next to JIPMER. "We are already testing the swabs at the hospital which is already a COVID- 19 hospital here using the RT-PCR equipment," he said.Kumar said the medical college hospital would be of help to conduct the tests and come out with the results without loss of time. He said tele-medicine facility would be introduced soon so that the patients would be saved of the necessity to come to the hospitals and get counselling from their places of residence with medical experts."We will also prescribe medicines through tele medicine mode," the director said.Already, the entry points to Puducherry from neighbouring Tamil Nadu districts of Villupuram and Cuddalore had been sealed to ensure there was no flow of patients from the neighbouring state into Puducherry which has established a good record in preventing the spread of the infection."Only very serious cases will be permitted for treatment in the hospitals here," he said.He said Puducherry had now returned to Stage-one from stage-two as there was no fresh case of infection and there were only three active cases in the COVID-19 hospital.He Sthanked all sections of health professionals, police and other departments for the team work in ensuring strict vigil against the spread of the pandemic in the Union Territory.
