Puducherry Jan 23 PTI The union territory of Puducherry logged 1897 new COVID-19 cases during the last 24 hours pushing the overall tally to 152213 a senior Health department official said on Sunday Five more people succumbed to the virus in the last 24 hours as the death toll rose to 1906 Director of Health and Family Welfare Services G Sriramulu said in a release here The Puducherry region alone registered 1395 out of the 1897 new cases in the last 24 hours as of 10 AM today while Karaikal reported 342 cases followed by Yanam 116 and Mahe 44 The number of active cases stood at 15696 with 174 undergoing treatment in hospitals and the remaining 15522 in home isolation The Health department Director said 1264 patients recovered and were discharged during the last 24 hours while the overall recoveries rose to 134611 Five more persons all from Puducherry succumbed to the virus during the last 24 hours he said adding the deceased were in the age group ranging between 55 and 90 years Sriramulu said the Health Department has so far tested 2129196 samples and found 1794095 out of them to be negative The test positivity rate stood at 3951 per cent while the fatality and recovery rates were 125 per cent and 8844 per cent respectively The department has so far administered 1521213 doses which comprised 917107 first doses 598904 second and 5202 booster doses Meanwhile Lt Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan said the union territory was witnessing a rise in number of coronavirus cases and this was in line with what was happening across the country Talking to reporters after garlanding the statue of veteran freedom fighter Netaji Subash Chandra Bose on his birth anniversary Sunday she said although a total lockdown was enforced in several states Puducherry did not do so as we are concerned about the livelihood sources of the people She appealed to the people to adhere to safety protocols and said that the hospitals here were fully prepared to rise to any exigency I reiterate that the people should not lower their guard against the pandemic she said PTI Cor SS SS