Puducherry, Mar 3 (PTI) The union territory of Puducherry added seven new COVID-19 cases during the last 24 hours taking the overall tally to 1,65,738, a senior Health department official said on Thursday. The seven cases were identified at the end of the examination of 608 samples and were spread over Puducherry (five) and Karaikal (two), Director of Health G Sriramulu said in a release here. The other two outlying regions-Mahe and Yanam- however, did not report any fresh infections, he added. The number of active cases stood at 74 which comprised nine patients in hospitals and the remaining 65 in home quarantine. The Director said no fresh fatality was reported from any of the four regions and the death toll remained at 1,962. While 17 patients were discharged after recovery during the last 24 hours, the overall recoveries rose to 1,63,702. The Health Department has so far tested 22,18,499 samples and has found 18,63,342 out of them to be negative. Sriramulu said that the test positivity rate was 1.15 per cent while the fatality and recovery rates were 1.18 per cent and 98.77 per cent respectively. The Health Department has so far administered 15,93,948 doses which comprised 9,31,851 first doses, 6,49,576 second and 12,521 booster doses, the Director said. PTI Cor SS SS