Puducherry, Feb 15 (PTI) Puducherry witnessed a dip in number of daily cases of coronavirus during the last 24 hours ending 10 a.m. on Tuesday with only 68 infections added afresh.The 68 fresh cases were identified at the end of examination of 1,971 samples and were spread over Puducherry 39, Karaikal 16, Yanam 8 and Mahe 5.With this, the total caseload shot up to 1,65,363.Director of the Department of Health G Sriramulu said the active cases were 900 of whom 35 patients were undergoing treatment in hospitals and the remaining 865 patients were in home quarantine.One more person from neighbouring Reddiarpalayam succumbed to the infection in JIPMER during last twenty-four hours, raising the toll to 1,959.Sriramulu said 196 patients recovered and were discharged during last twenty-four hours while the overall recoveries were 1,62,504.The Health Department has tested so far 21,94,136 samples and has found 18, 38, 031 out of them to be negative.The test positivity rate was 3.45 percent while the fatality and recovery rates were 1.18 percent and 98.27 percent, respectively.Sriramulu said the Department of Health has administered so far 15,57,738 doses which comprised 9,26,651 first doses, 6,19,749 second and 11,338 booster doses. PTI COR ROH ROH