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As many as 53 girl pupils of a government-aided high school in the Sundargarh district of Odisha and 22 MBBS students of Veer Surendra Sai Institute of Medical Sciences and Research (VIMSAR), Burla in Sambalpur have tested positive for coronavirus in the last three days.
Odisha's Covid-19 tally rose to 10,47,386 today as 212 more people, including 70 children, tested positive for the infection; while two fresh fatalities pushed the death toll to 8,396, according to a PTI report.
"The girls have been isolated and special provisions have been made for their treatment. Their health condition is normal, while the educational institute has been shut for a week," Sister Petrica, headmistress of St Merry Girls' School, said.
The students infected with Covid-19 are studying in classes 8, 9 and 10, and were tested for COVID-19 after a majority of them exhibited symptoms of cold and cough, she said, adding that the district administration and health authorities have been informed about it.
The 22 MBBS students of VIMSAR, Burla have been admitted to the COVID hospital. Authorities suspect that the infection might have spread from the institute's annual function held recently. They have convened an urgent meeting on the prevailing situation on the campus.
While there has been a significant decline in the spread of the infection across Odisha, the sudden spurt in cases in the western districts of Sundargarh and Sambalpur is a cause of concern, health expert Dr Narayan Mishra said.
Meanwhile, Odisha on Monday reported 171 fresh COVID-19 cases, including 34 children, which took the tally to 10,47,174 while one new fatality pushed the coronavirus death toll to 8,394, a health department official said.
The daily COVID-19 cases in the state dropped below 200 after a week. While 205 infections were detected on Sunday, 239 on Saturday, 242 on Friday, 229 on Thursday, 226 on Wednesday and 206 on Tuesday.
The new cases were reported from 21 districts while nine others did not report any new infection. The rate of infection among people in the 0 to 18 years age group stands at 19.88 per cent on Monday against the previous day’s 21.95 per cent.
Of the new cases, Khurda district of which the state capital Bhubaneswar is a part, reported the highest of 76 new infections, followed by Sambalpur (13) and Cuttack (10).
One fatality was reported from Balasore district, he said, adding that 53 other COVID-19 patients have so far died due to comorbidities.
As 171 people tested positive out of 58,104 samples tested on Sunday, the daily test positivity rate (TPR) stands at 0.29 per cent. The TPR was 0.40 per cent on Sunday, 0.41 per cent on Saturday, 0.42 per cent on Friday, 0.39 per cent on Thursday, and 0.37 per cent on Wednesday.
The state currently has 2,226 active COVID-19 cases, while 10,36,501 patients have recovered from the highly infectious disease including 271 on Sunday.
Odisha has thus so far conducted more than 2.32 crore sample tests including 58,104 on Sunday. The state’s positivity rate stands at 4.49 per cent.
More than 1.43 crore people have been fully vaccinated in the state till now, the data released by the Health and Family Welfare department stated.
With agency inputs
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