7 people test positive for COVID-19 in Odisha, total tally 156

Seven people tested positive for COVID-19 in Odisha's Jajpur district on Saturday, taking the total number of cases in the state to 156, officials said.

With 55 people cured of the disease and one death, the number of active cases in the state now stands at 100. Till Friday, a total of 36,593 samples were tested, they said.

All the seven newly detected patients, which include two women, have a travel history to Kolkata in West Bengal, officials said, adding they were kept in a quarantine centre and were asymptomatic.

With these new instances of the respiratory infection, the number of COVID-19 cases has increased to 47 in Jajpur district which has emerged as the new coronavirus hotspot of Odisha. Contact-tracing and follow-up action are being done, officials of the Information and Public Relations department said.

Of the total cases in the state, Bhubaneswar and Jajpur district top the list with 47 cases each, followed by Balasore at 20, Bhadrak at 19, Sundergarh at 10, Kendrapara, Bolangir and Kalahandi districts two each, while Koraput, Jharsuguda, Deogarh, Keonjhar, Cuttack, Dhenkanal and Puri have reported one case each.