48 new COVID-19 cases in Odisha; tally 876

Bhubaneswar, May 18 () Forty-eight more people, including 47 migrant workers who recently returned from various states, tested positive for novel coronavirus in Odisha, taking the number of cases in the state to 876 on Monday, a Health Department official said.

Kandhamal district reported cases of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) for the first time, taking the number of affected districts in the state to 23, the official said.

There are 652 active cases so far and the total number of infections has risen 876, out of which 220 people have recovered and four died.

Of the 48 new COVID-19 patients, 47 are migrant workers who had recently returned from various states and were placed in quarantine centres, while one was a prison inmate in Puri, according to the official.

Sixteen of the new cases were from Jajpur, followed by 15 in Ganjam, four in Puri, three each in Kendrapara and Nayagarh, two each in Bolangir and Kandhamal and one each in Boudh, Cuttack and Khordha districts, the official said.

"The Puri jail inmate was already kept in isolation. Hence, there is no need to panic," Director General (Prison) S K Upadhay told .

After the prisoner tested positive for COVID-19, police personnel of the Kumbharpada police station, where he was brought to after being arrested in a snatching case last Friday, have been kept in a lodge and will be tested during the day, while the police station has been sanitised, Puri Superintendent of Police U S Dash said.

A total of 4,543 samples were tested in Odisha on Sunday, taking the total number of COVID-19 tests in the state to 95,766, health officials said.

Ganjam tops the COVID-19 tally in the state with 307 cases, followed by Jajpur (137), Balasore (119), Bhadrak (74), Khordha (60), Kendrapara (30), Puri (29), Sundargarh (27), Cuttack (23), Angul (15) Mayurbhanj (11) Nayagarh (9) Keonjhar (8) and Bolangir (6), the officials said.

Five cases each were reported in Jagatsinghpur and Boudh, two each in Kalahandi, Kandhamal, Jharsuguda and Deogarh and one each in Sambalpur, Koraput and Dhenkanal, the officials added. AAM ACDHMBHMB