Odisha logs 2,074 new COVID-19 cases, 65 fresh fatalities

Odisha's COVID-19 tally rose to 9,45,749 on Wednesday as 2,074 more people tested positive for the infection, while 65 fresh fatalities pushed the state's coronavirus death toll to 4,795, a health official said.

Though there has been a significant decline in daily cases and test positivity rate, fresh single-day fatalities continue to remain around 60 since July 8.

Odisha's active caseload has also significantly come down to 22,860 on July 14 from 55,923 on June 14. The total number of recoveries has also soared to 9,18,041, including 2,641 on Tuesday, he said.

However, the high number of fatalities remains a cause of concern for the state. As many as 68 people had succumbed to the infection on Tuesday.

A total of 1,192 new cases were registered in quarantine centres, while 882 infections were detected during contact tracing.

Khurda district, under which Bhubaneswar falls, recorded the highest number of new cases at 443, followed by Cuttack (283) and Puri (133).

Khurda also registered the highest number of fresh fatalities at 20, followed by Bargarh (10) and Sundargarh (seven).

Fifty-three other coronavirus patients have died due to comorbidities to date.

Odisha has thus far tested over 1.47 crore samples for COVID-19, including 69,287 on Tuesday. The positivity rate stands at 6.40 per cent.

Even though the rate of infection has come down in around two dozen districts, six coastal districts continue to report more than 100 fresh cases every day.

"There is a need to monitor and regulate the inter- state movement of people to keep the COVID-19 infection rate under control in Odisha," Professor CBK Mohanty, chief of the Directorate of Medical Education and Training (DMET) said.

He said that Odisha may push itself into danger and invite the third wave of the pandemic if measures to regulate inter-state movement are not taken immediately.

Professor Mohanty cited instances of how the infection spread rapidly in the border districts of Odisha after a high number of cases were reported in neighbouring Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand during the second wave.

The infections which spread to the border districts later came to Bhubaneswar and Cuttack, he added.