BHUBANESWAR : With 33 more deaths in the last 24 hours, Odisha’s daily fatalities due to Covid-19 touched a new peak even as there was a marginal drop in single-day spike during the period. Health officials said seven persons from Khurda (including three from Bhubaneswar), four each from Angul, Jharsuguda and Kalahandi, three each from Sonepur, Sambalpur and Sundargarh, two each from Keonjhar and Ganjam and one each from four other districts succumbed to the Covid infection pushing the death toll of the State to 2,549.
Despite claiming to have strengthened Covid healthcare facilities in the State, the government has not been able to put a break on the rising number of fatalities as more than 100 people infected with the virus have died in the last 72 hours. The State had recorded 32 Covid-related deaths on Monday. While the increasing number of Covid deaths raises alarm, there was a marginal dip in the daily infections. A total 10,939 confirmed infections were reported in the State on Tuesday as compared to 11,059 cases on Monday.
Worst-hit Khurda remained on top with 1,292 cases, followed by 922 in Cuttack, 819 in Angul, 763 in Dhenkanal, 604 in Mayurbhanj, 541 in Jajpur and 512 in Sundargarh. Puri, Boudh, Nabarangpur, Balasore, Bargarh and Kendrapara also reported around 300 to 400 cases. Capital Bhubaneswar saw 1,062 new cases.
The fall in the number of daily cases, however, was attributed to the dip in testing which remained 62,261 in the last 24 hours against 66,512 the previous day. The daily test positivity rate (TPR) was 17.5 per cent, 1.1 per cent more compared to the previous day. Health department statistics suggested that the new positive cases took the cumulative Covid tally of the State to 71,4380. However, with 11,796 recoveries, the active case tally of the State came down to 98,758.