BHUBANESWAR: Odisha on Thursday posted its second highest single day spike in Covid-19 cases with as many as 17 persons testing positive at Jajpur.
While the total number of cases rose to 142, Jajpur has become the second Covid hotspot of the State with 36 patients.
All the new persons are contacts of West Bengal returnees, who have already tested positive. The highest single day rise was reported on April 5 with 18 cases detected in Bhubaneswar.
The new cases included 16 from Katikata containment zone under Dasarathpur block of the district.
Among them, six are women, two three-year-old children and nine men. Most of the cases are asymptomatic.
They had come in contact with six persons who had returned from Bengal on March 29. The WB returnees had tested positive between April 23 and 25 after completing 14-day institutional quarantine.
Sources said, the six had gone home after completion of their quarantine period and spent time with family and friends before their samples were drawn on the basis of their travel history and came positive.
Of the 36 cases in Jajpur district, Katikata alone accounts for 22 cases.
“Katikata was sealed and aggressive contact tracing launched after six persons tested positive. Of the 269 families in the area, 200 samples have been collected so far. Further collection of samples are on. The containment period has been extended,” said I&PR Secretary Sanjay Singh.
Of the four hotspots in the State, Jajpur has the highest 35 active cases after the recovery of one patient. While Bhubaneswar and Balasore have 19 active cases each, Bhadrak has 17 cases.
WB returnees contribute a major share of cases as 70 of the total 142 are linked to the neighbouring state. Meanwhile, two persons from Rourkela have recovered on Thursday.
With this, the total number of active cases stands at 100. The WB link to the spurt in cases has become a cause of worry as lakhs of migrants from the most virus-burdened states will be on their way back the coming days.