At 418, COVID-19 cases count in Odisha reaches lowest in five months

Sundargarh recorded the highest 41 cases, while the infection count remained 34 in Angul, 32 in Mayurbhanj, 25 in Cuttack and 23 in Khurda.
An artist busy painting on walls over theme of COVID-19. (File photo| Biswanath Swain, EPS)
An artist busy painting on walls over theme of COVID-19. (File photo| Biswanath Swain, EPS)

BHUBANESWAR: After a gap of four and half months, the daily COVID-19 count of Odisha dropped below 500-mark on Monday. Around 418 new cases were reported in the last 24 hours, of which 241 were related to quarantine while the remaining 177 are local transmission cases. A total 41,371 tests were conducted within this period and the daily test positivity rate remained at 1.01 per cent.

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, who took to social media to announce it, said that previously the State had recorded less than 500 cases in July. As many as 494 cases had been recorded on July 15 after which the daily count rose sharply till October end.

"I appreciate the hard work and sacrifice of our COVID warriors for helping Odisha fight back the pandemic," the Chief Minister tweeted. However, he asked people not to be complacent and reminded them that 'mask is the best vaccine still'.

According to the Health department report, the daily case load on Monday remained below 50 in all the districts. Sundargarh recorded the highest 41 cases, while the infection count remained 34 in Angul, 32 in Mayurbhanj, 25 in Cuttack and 23 in Khurda. The death toll in the last 24 hours was five. The new cases and fatalities increased the COVID-19 tally to 3,18,725 and death toll to 1,792.

Meanwhile, the government on Monday informed the Centre that the State is fully prepared for Covid vaccination programme. “Odisha stands prepared for the vaccination with prioritised list and well designed multi-sectoral response system at different levels,” Chief Secretary Asit Tripathy told Union Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba during a national level review meeting. 

While around 3.2 lakh health and frontline workers have been placed in the list, 8,300 vaccinators and 30,000 vaccination sites have been identified for administering the vaccine. Special Relief Commissioner PK Jena said all arrangements have been done for setting up the control rooms at State, district and block levels with necessary connectivity and logistic supports.

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