Puducherry, Sep 4 (PTI) The Union Territory of Puducherry recorded 120 new cases of coronavirus after testing 5,017 samples during the last 24 hours ending 10 am on Saturday, taking the overall tally to 1,24,049, Health department director G Sriramulu said.Puducherry recorded 70 fresh cases, Karaikal 17, Yanam 8 and Mahe 25.With one more person from Mahe succumbing to the infection, the death toll has risen to 1,816, he said.Active cases now stood at 937. Of them, 172 people are being treated in hospitals while the rest are in home isolation, the official said.The department has so far tested16.63 lakh samples and of them 14.12 lakh samples were found to be negative.He said 76 patients recovered and were discharged during the last 24 hours, pushing the overall recoveries to 1,21,296.Sriramulu said the test positivity rate was 2.39 per cent while fatality and recovery rates were 1.46 per cent and 97.78 per cent.The health department has vaccinated till date 38,152 health care workers and 23,005 frontline workers. The department has inoculated so far 5.75 lakh persons belonging to the category of either senior citizens or those above 45 years with co-morbidities.In all, the department has vaccinated 8.28 lakh persons, including those who received the second dose, against the pandemic.According to a release, the department has launched 48-hour long non-stop vaccination from 8 a.m. Friday to 8 a.m. Sunday against the pandemic. The purpose of the drive is to cover all eligible persons under the vaccination programme to ensure that Puducherry emerged a fully vaccinated Union Territory. PTI COR BN BN