Odisha reports 11,805 new Covid cases, 21 deaths; infection tally crosses 6 lakh

BHUBANESWAR: The Covid second wave continued to rage as Odisha added 11,805 more new infections in last 24 hours pushing the tally to cross six lakh. The disease claimed 21 more lives during the period.

Of the fresh cases, 6,611 were in quarantine and 5,194 were detected during contact tracing. The test positivity rate (TPR) came down from 22% to 20.7% as the number of tests rose to 57,002, including 18,683 RT-PCR tests.

Three districts recorded more than 1000 cases each with Khurda topping the list at 1,414 cases, followed by Sundargarh (1,209) and Cuttack (1197). The TPR in 11 districts was above 20%. Angul registered the maximum 39.3% and it was 36.2% in Boudh.

Of the eight States and Union Territories that have been showing continued increase in daily new cases, Odisha ranked fourth. It is at 12th position in terms of active cases and above the States such as Bihar, Punjab, Telangana, Uttarakhand, Assam and Delhi.

According to the Union Health Ministry, Khurda district is among the top districts showing a surge in daily new cases since the last two weeks. The number of cases in Khurda rose from 9,677 between April 22-28 to 11,058 during April 29 and May 5. The count was 12,854 between the period from May 6 to 12. With an
average positivity rate of 37.5% in last one week is also on top in the State, which has been recording an overall TPR of over 20% for the last nine days.

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With these new infections, the coronavirus tally soared to 6,00,492 of which 5,02,455 have recovered so far. The active cases stood at 95,690. The 21 fresh fatalities took the death toll to 2,294.

Four persons succumbed to the disease in Khurda, three in Angul, two each in Kalahandi, Kendrapara, Puri, Rayagada and Sundargarh and one each in Boudh, Gajapati, Koraput and Nuapada in last 24 hours.

Chief Secretary Suresh Chandra Mahapatra on Saturday said the positivity rate in 10 districts, mostly in western Odisha, has witnessed a declining trend during the ongoing lockdown.

“The healthcare facilities are under stress as around 15,000 patients, including 3,000 in ICUs, are under hospitalisation as compared to around 8000 patients, including 836 in ICU, during the peak of the pandemic last year,” he said.

Meanwhile, a mathematical model projected that Odisha will have 2.8 lakh more cases by mid June taking the total confirmed cases to 8.25 lakh. Even though the daily infection rate will be maintained, the number of deaths will be relatively lesser. The projected death toll is 2750 by then.

According to an internal assessment made by the Health department, the State is expected to add an average of 8000 cases per day for the next one month.