Sambalpur sees highest COVID-19 rise in Odisha
Bhubaneswar, Feb 25 (PTI):
Odisha’s COVID-19 tally on Thursday surged to 3,36,924 after 89 more people tested positive for the infection, while one fresh fatality pushed the coronavirus death toll to 1,915, a health department official said.
The new cases were detected in 19 of the state’s 30 districts, with 53 cases reported from quarantine centres and 36 local contact cases. Sambalpur district recorded the highest of 14 cases followed by 9 each from Khurda and Balasore and Sundergarh (8). Kandhamal and Dhenkanal turned coronavirus free as both the districts have no active COVID-19 case.
With one COVID-19 patient succumbing to the infection in Bolangir district, the state’s coronavirus death toll mounted to 1,915. This apart, 53 other COVID-19 patients have also died in the state due to comorbidities, he said. Odisha currently has 623 active COVID-19 cases while as many as 3,34,333 patients have recovered from the highly infectious disease.
The state has tested over 82.55 lakh samples for COVID-19 including 24,639. Odisha’s positivity rate stands at 4.08 per cent.
Meanwhile, the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation additional commissioner Subhendu Sahu said that at least two passengers were detected COVID-19 positive during an RT-PCR test at the Biju Patnaik International Airport here. The had reached Bhubaneswar on Wednesday afternoon.
One of them has been admitted to hospital while the other is in home isolation, he said.
However, it was not confirmed whether the duo was infected with the new variant of the virus. So far, no new strain of COVID-19 has been detected in Odisha, the official said.
The government has also started contract tracing of the duo and contacting his co-passengers.
BMC Commissioner PC Chaudhury, who received the jab at the Capital Hospital here said: “We have set up screening and testing facilities at the airport and in contact with the railways for similar facilities to screen passengers coming from other hot spots.”
Now, the focus will be on passengers arriving from Kerala, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, which have witnessed an upsurge in new cases.
