Odisha reports 9,793 new coronavirus cases, 18 more fatalities

Odisha's COVID-19 caseload

on Tuesday rose to 5,54,666 after 9,793 more people tested positive for the disease, while 18 fresh fatalities pushed the state's toll to 2,215, a health department official said.

Accordingly, the number of active cases climbed to 94,829, he said.

Of the 9,793 new cases, 5,534 were reported from various quarantine centres and the rest detected during contact tracing, the official said.

Khurda district, of which state capital Bhubaneswar is a part, reported the maximum number of new cases at 1511, followed by Sundergarh at 1,018 and Cuttack at 641.

Barring Malkangiri, Dhenkanal and Bhadrak, all 27 other districts reported over 100 new cases.

Taking to Twitter, the health department said, "Regret to inform about the demise of eighteen Covid positive patients while under treatment in hospitals."

Four fatalities were recorded in Angul, three in Khurda, two each in Kalahandi, Rayagada and Sundergarh.

One each succumbed to the infection in Boudh, Deogarh, Gajapati, Malkangiri and Puri.

This apart, 53 other COVID-19 patients in the state have died due to comorbidities.

As many as 4,57,569 patients have so far recovered from the highly infectious disease. Odisha's positivity rate currently stands at 5.23 per cent.

Over 1.06 crore samples have been tested in the state thus far, including 46,241 on Monday, the official said.

Meanwhile, vaccination for people in the 18-44 years age bracket began in four municipal corporation areas of Odisha -- Cuttack, Rourkela, Sambalpur and Berhampur.

The inoculation drive for the younger population is already underway in areas managed by the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC), the official added.