17 more test positive for COVID-19 in Odisha, count rises to 142

Seventeen people, including seven women and three children, tested positive for coronavirus in Jajpur district of Odisha on Thursday, taking the total number of COVID-19 cases in the state to 142, officials said.

While the health and family welfare department earlier in the morning announced information about the detection of three positive cases, including a woman from Jajpur, another health update released in the evening shared details about 14 more cases.

With the detection of 17 cases, all having West Bengal link, the number of COVID-19 patients in Jajpur has now climbed to 36, an official said, adding that the district has become second to Bhubaneswar, located in Khurda district, which accounts for 47 infected persons.

All the 17 new patients were diagnosed from Katikata containment zone where seven West Bengal returnees had earlier been detected with COVID-19 infection, Information and Public Relations Secretary Sanjay Singh said.

The cases were asymptomatic, officials said.

Jajpur, adjoining Cuttack district, had last week observed a 60-hour curfew-like total lockdown along with Balasore and Bhadrak districts for contact tracing of the deadly virus.

Stating there are 269 households in the containment zone, Singh said the new cases surfaced after testing 200 samples collected from the area so far.

Sample collection in the area is still continuing for COVID-19 in order to detect hidden cases, he said.

The females who have been detected COVID-19 positive comprised a 3-year-old girl child, an 85 year-old woman, and five others aged 52 years, 40 years, 36 years, 20 years and 18 years.

Two boys aged three and 12 years were among the newly detected patients.

A total of 2,588 samples were tested in Odisha on Wednesday. So far, 31,696 samples have been tested across the state, officials said.

Of the 142 patients, 102 are still afflicted with the disease while 39 have recovered and one has died, they said.

Forty-seven of the 142 cases have been reported in Bhubaneswar, followed by 36 in Jajpur, 19 each in Bhadrak and Balasore, 10 in Sundergarh, two each in Kendrapara and Kalahandi and one each in Cuttack, Puri, Dhenkanal, Koraput, Jharsuguda, Deogarh and Keonjhar districts, they added.