Puducherry added four new cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday raising the overall caseload in the Union Territory to 1,65,794, a senior health department official said.?Director of Health G Sriramulu, in a release, said the four fresh cases were identified at the end of examination of 338 samples in the last 24 hours.

He said three patients recovered from the viral infection and the overall active cases were nine with all affected persons recuperating in home quarantine. There was however no new death in any of the four regions of Puducherry, Karaikal, Mahe and Yanam in the UT and the fatality toll remained unchanged at 1,962, Sriramulu added.

Three patients recovered during the last 24 hours and the total recoveries in the UT were 1,63,823.?The health department has so far examined 22,34,639 samples and found 18,79,468 samples out of them to be negative, the Director said.?The test positivity rate was 1.18 per cent while fatality and recovery rates remained 1.18 per cent and 98.81 per cent, respectively.

Sriramulu said the department has administered 16,89,082 doses across the UT till now comprising 9,64,632 first doses, 7,03,564 second doses and 20,886 booster doses.

(With PTI inputs)