Odisha reports second COVID-19 death; total cases rise to 185

A 77-year-old COVID-19 patient here has died while nine more people have tested positive for the disease in Odisha, taking the number of cases to 185 in the state, officials said on Wednesday.

The septuagenarian was on ventilator since April 30 at the KIMS COVID-19 Hospital here and breathed his last on Tuesday night, said Dr Jayant Panda, the spokesperson of the Health and Family Department.

The patient, a resident of Madhusudan Nagar here, had comorbidities like hypertension, diabetes and kidney ailments. His blood pressure was maintained and he had undergone one sitting of dialysis, the spokesperson said.

"Unfortunately, he died at about 10.30 pm on Tuesday night despite all out efforts of the doctors," he said, appealing to people of the state to take special care of elderly persons who are suffering from other diseases as well.

The fresh cases have been reported from Jagatsinghpur (4), Jajpur (2) and one each from Gajam, Kendrapara and Balasore, the Information and Public Relations department said.

Of the nine patients, five have returned from Surat in Gujarat while four others from West Bengal, a senior official said, adding that all of them were quarantined.

With the detection of the new cases, Jagatsinghpur became the latest inclusion in the list of coronavirus-hit districts in the state. Seventeen of the 30 districts of Odisha have reported coronavirus cases.

In Jagatsinghpur, three patients belonged to one family in Naugaon area, the official said.

The Surat returnees who have tested positive for the disease are from Ganjam and Jagatsinghpur districts, while the patients in Jajpur, Balasore and Kendrapara have a travel history to West Bengal.

All the nine people detected on Wednesday were males in the age group of 18 to 65 years, the official said.

The state now has 122 active cases, while 61 people have recovered from the disease and two died, he said.

Jajpur district has reported the maximum number of cases at 55, followed by Bhubaneswar 47, Balasore 25, Bhadrak 21 and Sundergarh 12.

Four positive cases have been reported from Ganjam district, three cases from Kendrapara while two cases each have been detected in Cuttack, Jharsuguda, Bolangir, Keonjhar and Kalahandi, and one each in Puri, Dhenkanal, Deogarh and Koraput districts.

The state government rushed a team consisting of Director of Family Welfare Bijay Kumar Panigrahi and RMRC-Bhubaneswar scientist Jaysingh Khatri to Ganjam to supervise surveillance and containment measures in the district, the official said.

The Health and Family Welfare Department in a notification said the dean and principal of MKCG Medical College and Hospital in Berhampur will be part of the team, besides some senior professors of medicine.

AIIMS, Bhubaneswar has also sent two Rapid Response Teams (RRTs) comprising epidemiologist, microbiologist and pulmologist/medical specialist to red zones in Balasore and Bhadrak districts.

Another team has been sent to Bolangir district as per the requirement of the state government, a spokesperson of the AIIMS, Bhubaneswar said.