Covid-19 cases in Odisha breach 1,000-mark, death toll touches 6

BHUBANESWAR: With 85 new Covid-19 positive cases reported in Odisha in the past 24 hours, the total number of persons who have tested positive for the virus in the state crossed the 1,000 mark on Wednesday.
The state has recorded 1,063 Covid-19 positive cases so far with Malkangiri district reporting its first two cases, taking the number of affected districts to 24.
At the same time, the death toll in the state rose to six, with a 70-year-old Covid-19 patient in Khurda succumbing to the virus. “The man had a history of hypertension and was admitted to the AIIMS emergency section on Tuesday with respiratory distress. He tested positive for Covid-19,” informed the health and family welfare department.
Apart from the two new cases detected in Malkangiri, the highest number of 28 cases has been reported from Boudh, followed by 11 each in Puri and Kalahandi, nine in Cuttack, seven from Khurda, six each in Ganjam and Jajpur, two from Kendrapada and one each in Balasore, Dhenkanal and Kandhamal districts. With this, the total number of active cases in the state is now 714.
Of the total 85 new patients, 82 had returned from other states like West Bengal, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Kerala and were lodged in different quarantine centres. The three persons infected locally are from Khurda, Ganjam and Kalahandi districts. The local infected with the virus in Kalahandi has been a supervisor at a quarantine centre, sources said.
Ganjam district has reported the highest number of 313 cases so far, of which 109 have recovered while 202 are active cases. Jajpur and Balasore followed Ganjam with 174 and 122 positive cases, respectively.
There has been a sudden jump in Covid-19 cases after the return of migrants to the state. A month ago on April 20, Odisha had reported 79 positive cases, while on May 5 the number of cases in the state was 177. But by May 20 (Wednesday), the figure shot up to 1,063.
As many as 2,03,220 migrants have returned to the state by trains and buses till Wednesday while 11,295 returned to the state on Wednesday alone, officials said.
Odisha has conducted a record 5,612 Covid-19 tests in the past 24 hours, taking the total number of samples tested to 1,05,914.