BHUBANESWAR: Even as the test positivity rate remained below three percent for the fourth consecutive day, the number of recoveries dropped on Sunday as compared to new cases after nearly 45 days.
While 1,434 persons tested positive for novel coronavirus in last 24 hours, 1,311 patients have recovered. The number of recoveries was less in comparison to new infections for the last time on September 24 when 3,779 patients had recovered against 4,208 cases.
Of the fresh cases, 833 were in quarantine and 601 local contacts. Only two districts recorded more than 100 cases with Khurda accounting for 144 and Cuttack with 141 cases. Among other districts contributing to the daily counts included Balasore (99), Sundargarh (98), Angul (90), Mayurbhanj (80), Puri (77) and Jagatsinghpur (68). With this, the Covid-19 tally soared to 3,01,574.
Fifteen more Covid-19 patients succumbed to the disease while undergoing treatment in hospitals taking the death toll to 1,478. Three deaths each were reported from Khurda and Sambalpur, two each from Bargarh and Balangir, and one each from Cuttack, Ganjam, Deogarh, Jharsuguda and Sundargarh. Khurda district alone accounted for 258 deaths in the State so far followed by 233 in Ganjam and 120 in Cuttack. Odisha currently has 11,928 active cases with 2,88,168 recoveries. As many as 49.39 lakh tests have been conducted so far including 50,881 tests in last 24 hours.