Odisha among top six states fuelling India’s COVID tally

At 77.7 pc, the recovery rate in Odisha is slower than that of Delhi, Bihar and West Bengal which have registered more number of confirmed cases.
For representational purposes (Photo | PTI)
For representational purposes (Photo | PTI)

BHUBANESWAR: Posting its highest single-day spike of 3,810 new infections, Odisha on Sunday took a place among the top-six states that have been fueling India’s COVID tally for the last few days. 

The total number of cases in the State logged at 1,24,031 and the rate of positivity jumped from the last week average of five per cent (pc) to 7.5 pc. The previous single-day biggest spike of 3,682 cases was recorded on August 27. 

The number of new infections in Odisha has surpassed the states like Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab and Delhi, where the case positivity rate has come down substantially. 

In terms of active cases, Odisha is at eighth position with 27,068 cases, though it is far away from Maharashtra which has 2.2 lakh. AP and Karnataka have close to one lakh active cases each while UP and Tamil Nadu have 61,625 and 51,455 respectively.

At 77.7 pc, the recovery rate in Odisha is slower than that of Delhi, Bihar and West Bengal which have registered more number of confirmed cases.

The sample positivity rate has gone upwards in the last one week. On September 4, the positivity rate was 7.57 pc, the highest in the month.

Of the 3,810 new cases, 40 pc were local cases having no contact or travel history. For the first time, 13 districts recorded more than 100 cases with Khurda accounting for highest 797, followed by Bargarh (396), Cuttack (322), Jajpur (252), Jharsuguda (192) and Mayurbhanj (142).

Other districts with 100-plus cases included Balasore (120), Puri (117), Ganjam (108), Bhadrak (107), Sonepur (106), Kendrapada (103) and Rayagada (101). Apart from Khurda and Cuttack, high growth rate has been reported from Mayurbhanj, Bargarh and Puri. 

Though the number of new infections has come down in Ganjam, the increase in deaths continued as usual as four of the eight victims succumbing to COVID-19 in last 24 hours were from the district.

The rest were from Bhubaneswar, Rayagada, Sundargarh and Koraput. With this the death toll in the State reached 599.

Health officials, however, claimed the rising cases are reflective of increasing number of tests and laxity by people in adhering to safety protocols.

“With the opening of activities, September seems to be very crucial for Odisha. We expect this to be peak and the cases will come down by end of this month or early next month,” Additional Chief Secretary of Health department PK Mohapatra said.

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