Coronavirus cases continue to spike among children in Odisha

Coronavirus infection among children continued to rise in Odisha even as the total number of new cases dropped to 681 on Saturday, a Health Department official said.

The state had reported 849 new cases on Friday, he said.

Among the new patients, diagnosed with COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, there were 118 children, which was 17.32 of the total fresh cases detected. It was 14.13 per cent on the previous day, the official said.

Odisha has so far reported 10.1 lakh COVID-19 cases.

Khurda district reported the highest number of new cases at 222. Four districts -- Bolangir, Gajapati, Kandhamal and Nuapada -- did not report any new case.

Five more people died in the state, taking the toll to 8,040.

There are 7,186 active cases in the state at present, while 9.95 lakh patients have recovered, including 835 on Friday.

The new cases were detected after testing 67,229 samples.