Odisha reports 67 new COVID-19 cases; total rises to 1,660

(Eds: With details)

Bhubaneswar, May 28 () As many as 67 people have tested positive for COVID-19 in Odisha, taking the total number of cases in the state to 1,660, a health department official said on Thursday.

Of the new patients, 65 had recently returned from Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh and were housed in quarantine centres, while two others were detected as a result of the contact-tracing exercise, he said.

The maximum of 26 fresh cases were reported in Ganjam district, followed by 11 each in Jajpur and Khurda, seven in Nayagarh, four in Sonepur, two each in Balangir, Jagatsinghpur and Sambalpur and one each from Keonjhar and Bargarh.

As many as 75 patients have recovered from the disease and were discharged from hospitals, Additional Chief Secretary, Health and Family Welfare, P K Mohapatra said.

The number of active cases in the state now stands at 766, while 812 patients have so far recovered from the disease. Seven people have died due to COVID-19.

Chief Secretary A K Tripathy apprised the Centre about Odisha's COVID-19 situation, during a video conference with Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba.

"The rate of coronavirus test per million population in Odisha is 3,029 against all India average of 2,490. In Odisha, one positive case is found out of 84 sample tests against the national average of one case per 21 tests," Tripathy said after the meeting.

The COVID-19 fatality ratio in Odisha, as of now, is 0.42 per cent against the national average of 2.86 per cent, he said.

Odisha has so far tested 1,39,311 samples, of which 3,037 were tested on Wednesday, the official said, adding 29 of the 30 districts have been affected.

Ganjam with 394 patients remains at the top of the list of districts affected by the coronavirus outbreak, followed by 253 in Jajpur, 139 in Balasore, 110 in Khurda, 106 in Bhadrak, 86 in Cuttack, 85 in Puri, 61 in Kendrapara, 57 in Nayagarh and 56 in Bolangir.

As many as 39,666 people of Odisha stranded in other state returned on Thursday, taking the total number of returnees to 3,76,054, officials said.

The Odisha government has set up 16,663 Temporary Medical Centres/Camps across 6,798 Gram Panchayats with a total quarantine bed strength of 7,35,891. AAM BDC DV ACD NSD