Odisha's Covid-19 tally crosses 29,000-mark, death toll rises to 159

BPL beneficiaries wait for their turn to collect ration at PDS distribution centre, during the complete lockdown re-imposed by the state government to curb the spread of novel coronavirus. Credit: PTI

Odisha's Covid-19 tally crossed the 29,000 mark on Wednesday after 1,068 more people tested positive for the disease, while the death toll rose to 159 with five more patients succumbing to the infection, a Health Department official said.

The total number of coronavirus patients in the state now stands at 29,175, he said.

The five deaths were reported from Ganjam, Balasore, Kandhamal, Malkangiri and Puri.

Another coronavirus patient from Bhadrak also died but the cause of his death was attributed to "non-Covid reasons", the official said.

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Of the 1,068 fresh cases, 662 were detected from different quarantine centres, while 406 were found through contact- tracing exercises, he said.

Ganjam, the worst-hit district by the pandemic, reported the highest of 245 new cases, followed by Khurda (194), Sundargarh (112), Gajapati (88), Koraput (66) and Cuttack (61).

So far, 18,061 people have recovered from the disease and the number of active Covid-19 cases in the state is 10,919, the official said.

Odisha on Tuesday conducted 10,750 tests, he added.