Khurda accounts for bulk of state’s 6,215 fresh cases

BHUBANESWAR: The state continues to see a huge jump in Covid-19 cases with a fresh single-day infection count of 6,215 on Friday. With this, it witnessed more than 6,000 cases for the second consecutive day.
Khurda district has once again emerged as the state’s hotspot with close to 1,000 new cases, while 13 out of the state’s 30 districts have reported triple-digit cases.With a one-day infection count of 950, Khurda has left Sundargarh and Nuapada far behind in terms of both the daily spike as well as active cases, which is inching close to the 7,000-mark in the district. Sundargarh’s active cases touched 5,498 as on Friday with the addition of 684 fresh infections.
With 698 new positive cases, the capital city is the lone urban centre in the state, which is contributing 70% of the cases to the district’s tally.
The Covid graph is moving sharply upward in the districts close to Chhattisgarh such as Kalahandi and Nuapada, with each reporting 682 and 446 new cases, respectively. With its fresh infection surge following a two- day lull, Kalahandi has left Nuapada behind.
The districts, which were witnessing fewer infections until now have suddenly started seeing a surge. These include Angul (173), Keonjhar (157), Mayurbhanj (115) and Puri (306). Surprisingly, the fresh cases in Ganjam district on Friday came down to double digits with 67. It’s neighbour Gajapati reported 47 cases.
The 10 western Odisha districts, where night curfew and weekend shutdown are in force, have together reported 2,894 cases. The coastal districts of Cuttack, Puri, Kendrapada, Jagatsinghpur, Jajpur, Nayagarh and Khurda accounted for 2,907 cases.
With experts saying that West Bengal’s triple-mutant variant’s transmissibility is far higher than that of the double mutant, the government is likely to introduce more curbs at railway stations to screen passengers arriving from West Bengal.
The train passengers will be screened like flyers at the Biju Patnaik airport. It will be done in accordance with the guidelines of the Special Relief Commissioner, a government official said.
“The triple-mutant virus is one whose spike protein has produced a new variant. Though there is no evidence to prove that the triple mutant virus is lethal, its infectivity is high. People should continue to adhere to Covid-appropriate behaviour without being complacent as cases are growing exponentially on a daily basis,” Manoj Sahu, a city-based doctor, warned.