Odisha reports 225 new COVID-19 cases, tally rises to 3,723

(Eds: Adding details & recoveries)

Bhubaneswar, Jun 13 () Odisha on Saturday reported its highest single-day spike in COVID-19 cases with 225 more people, including some police personnel, testing positive for the disease, taking the state's tally to 3,723, a Health Department official said.

Of the fresh cases, 196 were reported from various quarantine centres, where people returning from other states were lodged, while 29 others were detected in contact-tracing exercises, he said.

The maximum of 92 fresh cases was detected in Cuttack district, followed by 20 in Ganjam and 19 in Khurda. Puri district, which is preparing for the annual Rath Jatra of Lord Jagannath on June 23, also reported 15 cases.

Cuttack district incidentally has the highest 186 active COVID case, followed by 128 in Ganjam in the state.

Fifteen cases were found in Kandhamal, followed by 13 in Jagatsinghpur, 12 in Bolangir, nine in Mayurbhanj, seven each in Nayagarh and Dhenkanal, five in Bhadrak, four in Kendrapara, three in Kalahandi, two in Balasore and one each in Angul and Sundergarh.

Officials said two senior police officers, including a sub-divisional police officer (SDPO) and an inspector-in-charge (IIC) rank officer, were among the five police personnel who tested positive for the deadly virus.

Earlier, a total of 136 disaster response personnel of the Odisha Police were found to have the virus after their return from the cyclone restoration duty in West Bengal.

Meanwhile, 120 patients recovered from the disease on Saturday, taking the total number of cured persons to 2,594.

With this, the number of active cases in the state now stands at 1,116, while 2,594 people have recovered from the disease till Saturday, the official said.

Ten people have died of the disease in the state. Three more patients had tested positive for the disease but they died of other reasons, the official said.

Keeping in view the increase in the number of COVID-19 cases in the state, several districts like Keonjhar, Khurda, Ganjam, Jatasinghpur and Cuttack have imposed prohibitory orders banning gathering of more than seven people during the celebration of the three-day Raja festival, which commences from Sunday.

The district administrations have also banned mass celebration of the festival, the official said. AAM RG KJ KJ