BHUBANESWAR: Odisha reported a record 755 new COVID cases and six deaths in last 24 hours pushing the daily positivity rate to over 11 per cent.
As the tally inched closer to 12,000, the death toll rose to 73, including 56 due to Covid.
The big surge in Covid cases, from an average 500 cases a day over the last week to over 700 cases, has set the alarm bell ringing as the State posted a daily growth rate of 6.7 per cent against the national average of 3.4 per cent.
Though less compared to neighbouring states like Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Assam, it was almost double the national average.
The cases were spread across 23 districts but Ganjam contributed 320 cases, followed by Jajpur (86), Sundargarh (62), Khurda (59), Cuttack (55), Keonjhar (32), Gajapati (30), Malkangiri (18), Nayagarh (16), Balangir (12), Mayurbhanj (12) and Puri (11).
In an encouraging development, the State also recorded its biggest single day recovery of 565 patients from 24 districts.
After a total 7,972 patients recovered so far, the number of active cases stood at 3911. On the day, Health and Family Welfare department said, six more Covid-19 p atients succumbed.
Four, all men in the age group of 32-58, were from Ganjam, while two others from Sundargarh and Bhadrak succumbed to lung cancer and cancer of bladder with metastasis respectively.
Ganjam continued with the spike and maintained the highest load of 3416 cases as the number rose exponentially.
The migration- prone coastal district has now around 28.5 pc of the total 11,956 cases reported in the State so far.
Other districts with a large case load include Khurda (1194), Cuttack (941), Jajpur (759), Sundargarh (616), Gajapati (568) and Balasore (505).
Apart from these districts which reported a surge after arrival of migrants mostly from Gujarat, Maharashtra and West Bengal in May, the infection spread has been detected from Gajapati, Sundargarh, Mayurbhanj, Keonjhar and Rayagada.
In smaller and tribal towns like Malkangiri, Koraput, Rayagada, Sundargarh, Keonjhar, Kandhamal, Boudh and Nuapada too have become a cause of concern for the State Government.
As the cases saw a rapid rise, districts have been asked to be ready with facilities which can be upgraded to COVID hospitals to accommodate more patients.
