Single-day Spike of 561 COVID-19 Cases in Odisha

BHUBANESWAR:
Odisha on Friday reported its highest single-day spike of 561 COVID-19 cases, taking the state’s tally to 8,106, while the death climbed to 29 with two more fatalities, a health department official said.

Two men, aged 66 and 40, died of the disease at a COVID hospital in Ganjam district, he said. “Regret to report the demise of two COVID positive patients. One was suffering from hypertension and the other was a diabetic patient. They died during treatment,” the health department official said.

Of the 29 deaths in the state, Ganjam, the worst-hit district, accounts for 17, followed by five in Khurda, four in Cuttack, and one each in Bargarh, Puri and Angul, he said. Eight other coronavirus patients had died earlier but their deaths were attributed to “non-COVID reasons”, the official said.

The state had reported its first COVID-19 fatality in Bhubaneswar on April 6. Of the new 561 patients, including an NDRF staffer, 425 were reported from quarantine centres where people returning from other states are lodged for preliminary observation and care, while 136 others were detected as a result of the contact-tracing exercises.

The contact-tracing exercises of the fresh patients are underway, the official said. The NDRF staffer was placed under institutional quarantine after his return from West Bengal, where he had gone for restoration work in the wake of cyclone Amphan, the official said.

With this, the total number of disaster response personnel from NDRF, ODRAF and Odisha Fire Service testing positive for the virus rose to 296. The fresh cases have been reported from 19 different districts.

Ganjam recorded the highest of 283 cases, he said, adding that other districts that reported a high number of new cases are Cuttack (81), Rayagada (76), Khurda (26), Bargarh (21), Bolangir (19) and Mayurbhanj (10). Odisha now has active 2,567 cases, while 5,502 patients have recovered from the disease so far.

The state health department on Thursday conducted tests of 6,871 samples, the official added.