Odisha's COVID tally reaches 6,614; death toll mounts to 21

Bhubaneswar, Jun 28 () The COVID-19 tally in Odisha reached 6,614 on Sunday with 264 fresh infections and the death toll rose to 21 after three more people succumbed to the disease, a health department official said.

The deceased persons include a 73-year-old man from Bhubaneswar, who was suffering from diabetes, hypertension and chronic kidney ailments; a 65-year-old man from Cuttack and a 75-year-old man from Ganjam, both of whom had diabetes and hypertension, the official said.

As many as 137 patients recovered from the highly infectious disease on Sunday, taking the number of cured persons to 4,743, which is 71.71 per cent of the total COVID-19 cases in the state.

The state has 1,843 active cases. he said.

The toll due to coronavirus in Ganjam district has increased to 10, followed by Khurda (five), Cuttack (four) and Bargarh and Puri (one each), the official said.

The state had reported its first COVID-19 fatality in Bhubaneswar on April 6.

Besides, seven other COVID-19 patients had died earlier but the cause of their deaths was attributed to other ailments, he said.

Of the 264 fresh cases recorded from 23 districts, 234 were reported from quarantine centres where returnees from other states are housed, while 30 others had come in contact with COVID-19 patients, he said.

Districts that reported a high number of fresh cases are Ganjam (76), Jajpur (41), Keonjhar (25), Bargarh and Jharsuguda (18 each), Mayurbhanj and Khurda (15 each) and Balasore (12), the official said.

As many frontline functionaries, including health workers, police, panchayati raj institution members, are getting infected, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik wished them speedy recovery.

The chief minister in a statement said that sincerity and dedicated services of frontline "COVID warriors" to make the life of other safe are beyond comparison.

"Their sacrifice is unlimited. Wishing early recovery of ailing COVID Warriors," Patnaik said, adding that Odisha has to show its commitment and unity to the world in such a situation.

"Everybody has to be careful and self-disciplined on their part to win the battle against COVID-19 and that will be the true respect to the COVID Warriors", he said.

Patnaik's statement came after 17 frontline workers in Ganjam and two nurses in Cuttack tested positive for the disease on Sunday.

A 46-year-old policeman also tested positive in Cuttack, a health department official said.

He said 129 frontline workers have tested positive for COVID-19 during a span of 11 days in Ganjam district alone.

Meanwhile, the municipal corporations of Bhubaneswar, Berhampur, Cuttack and Khurda have declared separate containment zones in their respective jurisdictions.

Odisha has tested 2,55,809 samples for COVID-19 so far, including 5,907 in the last 24 hours, the official added. AAM RG DPB