4 WB returnees test COVID-19 positive in Odisha; total 83 cases now

Four persons, all of whom returned from West Bengal, tested positive for COVID-19 in Odisha on Wednesday taking the total number of coronavirus cases in the state to 83, officials said.

Of the four new patients, three hail from Bhadrak district and one from Jajpur district. All of them are males between the ages of 35 and 55 years.

The Odisha government on Tuesday augmented force deployment on its border with West Bengal to check influx of people from the neighbouring state after observing that one-third of the state's COVID-19 patients have a West Bengal link.

The government has also rushed experts to contain the spread of coronavirus in three districts - Balasore, Bhadrak and Jajpur - which reported a spurt in infections.

Health and family welfare department officials on Wednesday said two COVID-19 patients from Bhubaneswar also recovered from the disease.

With three more fresh cases, the number of COVID-19 patients in Bhadrak district rose to 11 while it mounted to eight in Jajpur.

The total number of coronavirus infection cases in the state has now reached 83. There are 50 active cases at present, as 32 people have recovered and a 72-year-old man died on April 6.

The health and family welfare department said a record number of 2,027 RT-PCR tests were conducted on Tuesday in Odisha. The total number of tests conducted in the state is 13,775. As many as 4,975 samples have been collected under the Rapid Test drive in Bhubaneswar.

"We appreciate the dedication and hard work of all the microbiologists, technicians and other support staff of these laboratories," the department said.

Of the 30 districts in Odisha, 10 have so far reported COVID-19 cases. However, of them, Cuttack, Puri, Kalahandi and Dhenkanal do not have any active cases at present following the recovery of all the patients there.

Khurda, including Bhubaneswar, has reported the maximum number of cases at 46, followed by 11 in Bhadrak, eight each in Balasore and Jajpur, three in Sundergarh, two each in Kalahandi and Kendrapara, and one each in Cuttack, Puri and Dhenkanal.