Odisha reports record 2,267 new Covid-19 cases, 3 more fatalities

Odisha's COVID-19 tally mounted to 3,55,353 as the state registered this year's highest single-day spike of 2,267 new cases on Wednesday, a health department official said.

The daily count crossed the 2000-mark for the first time in 2021, he said.

The death toll rose to 1,933 as three more people from Bolangir, Ganjam and Jajpur districts succumbed to the disease.

Taking to Twitter, the Health and Family Welfare Department said, "Regret to inform the demise of three COVID positive patients while under treatment in hospitals."

Of the fresh cases, 1,314 were reported from quarantine centres and 953 detected during contact tracing.

Sundargarh district registered the highest number of new cases at 458, followed by Khurda (348), Sambalpur and Bargarh (120 each), Cuttack (117), Nuapada and Nabarangpur (104 each).

"The daily count breached the 2,000-mark almost six months after 2,019 fresh infections were recorded on October 19, 2020," the official said.

Odisha now has 12,244 active cases, while 3,41,123 patients have so far recovered from the disease.

The state has conducted over 94.61 lakh samples for COVID-19, including 33,251 on Tuesday, and the positivity rate stands at 3.74 per cent.

The government has started imposing night curfew from 10 pm to 5 am in 10 districts bordering Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh where the number of coronavirus infections is rising sharply, the official said.

Chief Secretary Suresh Chandra Mahapatra along with Health and Family Welfare Additional Chief Secretary Pradeepta Kumar Mohapatra and other senior officers on Wednesday visited Sambalpur district to monitor the COVID situation there.

The chief secretary reviewed the preparedness of the Bargarh, Sambalpur and Jharsuguda administrations to contain the spread of the disease, the official said.

The Nuapada district administration has declared the Sinapali Gram Panchayat as a micro containment zone for four days starting from Wednesday after several COVID cases were reported from the area, he added.