Odisha's COVID-19 death toll mounts to 34; virus count rises to 8,601

Bhubaneswar, Jul 4 () Five more people died of COVID-19 in Odisha, taking the death toll to 34, while the total number of cases reached 8,601 with the detection of 495 fresh infections, a health official said on Saturday.

Ganjam reported three fresh deaths while Bhubaneswar (Khurda district) registered two fatalities, he said.

Another COVID-19 patient died in Cuttack district but the Health Department attributed the fatality to other ailments, taking the count of such deaths in the state to nine, the official said.

COVID-19 hotspot Ganjam district has reported 20 of the 34 deaths while the remaining fatalities have been registered in Khurda (7), Cuttack (4) and Puri, Bargarh and Angul (one each), he said.

Meanwhile, 495 fresh COVID-19 cases have been reported from 24 districts, taking the state's tally to 8,601, the Information and Public Relations Department said.

Of the new patients, 355 were housed in quarantine centres while 140 had come in contact with COVID-19 patients, it said.

The districts that reported a high number of fresh cases are Ganjam (216), Khurda (50), Sundargarh (36), Mayurbhanj (28), Angul (24), Puri (18) and Cuttack and Balasore (13 each), it added.

Of the 8,601 cases, 2,853 are active while 5,705 people have recovered, officials said.

Odisha has tested 2,87,090 samples for COVID-19 so far, including 5,567 on Friday, they added. AAM ACD AAR AAR