Highest single day spike of 21 COVID-19 deaths in Odisha as state reels under second wave

BHUBANESWAR:  Odisha recorded a spike in Covid-19 fatalities as 21 patients succumbed to the disease even as new infections came down from 12,238 to 11,807 in the last 24 hours.

Health department sources said Kalahandi district reported maximum four deaths and two deaths each were from Angul, Bhadrak, Cuttack and Sundargarh.

One patient each fell to the disease in Dhenkanal, Ganjam, Jagatsinghpur, Jajpur, Keonjhar, Kendrapara, Khurda, Nuapada and Puri.

This was the highest single day Covid fatalities so far in the pandemic.

Last year, highest 16 deaths were recorded during October. With this, the tally soared to 2,161.

Of the fresh cases, 6,613 were in quarantine and the rest 5,194 were local contacts.

The test positivity rate (TPR) in the State stood at 23.2 per cent (pc). As many as 50,864 samples were tested including 20,365 through RT-PCR. 

Highest single day spike of 21 deaths in State 

In districts like Sundargarh and Sambalpur, the TPR was above 50 per cent.

While three districts recorded more than 1,000 cases, Sundargarh topped the chart for the second consecutive day with 1,922 cases followed by Khurda at 1,510 cases.

The new infections in Cuttack district crossed 1,000-mark for the first time. The district recorded 1,052 cases.

Among other districts, 560 cases were recorded in Angul, 533 in Sambalpur, 454 in Puri, 437 in Balangir, 428 in Bargarh, 421 in Jharsuguda, 419 in Nabarangpur and 402 in Kalahandi. The State has registered 5,24,207 confirmed cases of which 4,39,322 have been recovered, the active cases stood at 82,671.

Meanwhile, the government announced that all doctors belonging to various cadres will be deployed at Covid care centres.

In an order, the Health and Family Welfare department stated that all doctors belonging to OHMS cadre, OMES cadre, AYUSH, dental surgeons, all PG doctors, post PG doctors, interns and final year students along with nursing and paramedical staff are temporarily brought under the State pool for their deployment as per need to different institutions for effective management of Covid-19 pandemic.