Odisha logs 524 fresh COVID-19 cases, 4 new fatalities

Odisha on Friday registered 524 new COVID-19 cases including 75 children which took the state’s caseload to 10,30,518 while four fresh fatalities pushed the coronavirus death toll to 8,238, a health department official said.

Though there has been significant improvement in the COVID-19 situation across the state, two coastal districts - Khurda and Cuttack -, continued to remain as points of concern as they together accounted for 62 per cent of the state’s daily caseload.

Of the 524 new cases, Khurda and Cuttack reported 325 fresh infections, which is 62 per cent of the total cases reported during the day. While 306 cases were from quarantine centres, the remaining 218 were local contact cases.

Six districts - Bargarh, Boudh, Gajapati, Jharsuguda, Nabarangpur and Subarnapur - did not report any new cases, he said, adding that Boudh district is now “COVID-19 Free” as it has no active case.

Odisha had registered 582 cases on Thursday and 593 on Wednesday.

The state’s daily test positivity rate (TPR) was 0.78 per cent as 525 cases gave positive results from among 66,724 samples put for examination on Thursday. The TPR was 0.75% on Thursday, 0.82% on Wednesday, and 0.77% on Tuesday.

The H&FW department informed that with four fresh fatalities, one each from Cuttack, Nayagarh, Kandhamal and Sundergarh districts, the state’s COVID-19 death toll mounted to 8,238.

Odisha currently has 5,111 active COVID-19 cases while 10,17,116 patients including 522 on Thursday, recovered from the highly infectious disease.

The state has thus far conducted over 2.05 crore sample tests while its positivity rate stands at 5.02 per cent.

Over 91.95 lakh people have so far been fully inoculated with double dose of COVID-19 vaccine.

Meanwhile, Odisha cautioned the people to remain alert for the next three months in order to prevent the transmission of the virus.

"October, November and December are crucial and people should avoid crowded places and unnecessary travel during this period," Director of Health Services, Bijay Mohapatra told reporters here.

He mentioned that December is a month with many holidays and people visit several destinations during this period. But, they should avoid travels in December, Mohapatra said, adding that if people do not stay vigilant, positive cases will further increase.

On the Corona situation in Bhubaneswar, the DHS said the rate of infection in the state capital has always been a cause for concern. Every day, 200 to 400 infections are being detected in the City. The Covid graph in the city is fluctuating. Therefore, people should strictly adhere to Covid appropriate behaviour in order to prevent the transmission of the virus, he said.