Odisha's Covid-19 tally crosses 150,000-mark; death toll mounts to 626

Tally in Odisha rose to 150,807 after 3,913 more people, including 38 inmates of a jail and a BJD MLA, tested positive for the disease, while 10 fresh fatalities took the death toll to 626

The COVID-19 tally in Odisha rose to 1,50,807 after 3,913 more people, including 38 inmates of a jail and a BJD MLA, tested positive for the disease on Sunday, while 10 fresh fatalities took the death toll to 626, a health department official said.

The state also registered the recovery of 3,363 coronavirus patients taking the total number of cured people so far to 1,18,642 which is 78.67 per cent.

The state now has 31,486 active cases, the official said.

The new cases were reported from all the 30 districts of the state, he said.

Of the fresh cases, 2,348 were reported from various quarantine centres, and 1,565 were detected during contact tracing, the official said.

Three new deaths were registered in Khurda district, two in Cuttack and one each in Balasore, Ganjam, Kalahandi, Mayurbhanj and Subarnapur.

Ganjam accounted for 215 of the 626 fatalities in the state, followed by Khurda (92).

Fifty-three COVID-19 patients have died in the coastal state due to comorbidities, the official said.

Khurda district, of which Bhubaneswar is a part, reported the highest number of 556 fresh cases, followed by Cuttack at 382 and Puri at 212.

The state has so far tested over 24.23 lakh samples for COVID-19, including 48,504 on Saturday, he said.

Meanwhile, Mayurbhanj District Magistrate-cum- Collector V Bharadwaj said that 38 inmates and two employees of Baripada Circle Jail tested positive for COVID-19.

The infected inmates and employees have been isolated in the jail housing about 600 prisoners.

In a social media post, ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) MLA from Talcher, Braja Kishore Pradhan, said that he was detected with the virus, and requested all who came in contact with him in the recent past to get themselves tested.

So far 28 MLAs including six ministers and three MPs of Odisha have tested positive for the infection, an official source said.

As the state capital has emerged as a major corona hotspot with 4,735 active cases, the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Sunday launched a massive door-to-door health screening in non-slum areas.

"The screening teams are collecting information on people with COVID-19 symptoms and travel history," a BMC official said.

The coronavirus caseload of the city has increased to 16,240 on Sunday with the detection of 395 new cases. Two more fresh fatalities also raised Bhubaneswar's death toll to 62.

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