BHUBANESWAR: Khurda and Cuttack have emerged a major concern for the State Government with both the districts contributing 30 per cent (pc) of the daily case count for last one week.
Of the 3,219 new Covid-19 cases reported in last 24 hours, 1,131 cases were from the two districts with Khurda accounting for the highest 731 cases and Cuttack 400.
August has been the most crucial month so far with the State registering 68.58 pc cases and 55.26 pc deaths. An analysis of the Covid infections revealed that 73,082 cases and 278 deaths were reported last month at an average of 2,357 cases and nine deaths a day.
In July, the State had registered 26,163 cases and 192 deaths at an average of 844 cases and six deaths a day. The biggest single day spike of 3,682 cases was recorded on August 27.
While Ganjam contributed the most in July, Khurda topped the new infection tally in August. The virus infection in Khurda is catching up fast as 18,159 cases have been detected in the district as against 18,238 cases in Ganjam so far.
Of the 3,219 new infections spread across 30 districts, 40 pc were local cases with no travel and contact history and the rest were in quarantine. Even as nine districts reported maximum cases, detection of new cases in Nayagarh, Rayagada, Balangir and Sambalpur, which had been witnessing 100 plus cases a day during the last week of July, have dropped.
On Wednesday, 217 cases were detected in Puri, 194 in Balasore, 185 in Bargarh, 169 in Ganjam, 137 in Mayurbhanj, 117 in Jajpur 117 and 112 in Keonjhar. With this, the total number of confirmed cases in the State climbed to 1,09,780. As many as 51,245 samples were tested including 7,685 tests through RT-PCR in last 24 hours.
With 11 more Covid patients, including three from Ganjam, two from Bhubaneswar, one each from Jagatsinghpur, Balasore, Puri, Rayagada, Sambalpur and Bhadrak, succumbing to the disease, the death toll reached 567.
On the positive note, the recovery of patients surpassed the new infections for last three days consecutively as 3,303 patients were discharged on Wednesday. As many as 3,484 and 4,053 patients had recovered on Tuesday and Monday against the new infections of 3,025 and 2,602 respectively.
The recovery rate has jumped to 76.58 pc and now is on par with the national average of 76.91 pc. The number of active cases now stands at 25,140 after a total recovery of 84,073 patients.