Odisha's Covid-19 tally crosses 10,000-mark, death toll reaches 42

Odisha's Covid-19 tally on Tuesday crossed the 10,000 mark, with 571 fresh infections, while the death toll climbed to 42 as four more patients succumbed to the disease, a health department official said.

The state's tally stands at 10,097 and the first Covid-19 case in Odisha was reported on March 15, he said.

A total of 217 patients recovered from the disease on Tuesday, taking the number of cured persons to 6,703 which is 66.38 per cent of the total positive cases reported so far. The fatality rate in the state is 0.41 per cent, he said.

The official said the new 571 cases were detected in 21 districts while fresh casualties were reported from Ganjam (3) and Cuttack (1).

In Ganjam, two men, aged 70 and 60, who were suffering from diabetes, and a 53-year-old man died.

A 48-year-old man, suffering from chronic liver disease and diabetes, died in Cuttack.

Two more persons who tested positive for Covid-19 also died, but the health department attributed their deaths to cancer. With this, the number of people who were diagnosed with Covid-19 but died due to other reasons has risen to 12.

These cases include an 80-year-old man from Cuttack who was suffering from prostate cancer with metastasis, and a 45-year-old man of Mayurbhanj who was suffering from esophageal cancer.

Ganjam district has reported the highest number of deaths in the state at 24. Khurda has reported seven deaths, Cuttack five, and Angul, Bargarh, Gajapati, Jajpur, Puri and Sundergarh one each, the official said.

Of the 571 new cases, 403 were reported from different quarantine centres while 168 were local contacts, the official said, adding that contact tracing and follow-up actions are underway.

With new cases, fresh recoveries and fatalities, the state’s active cases increased to 3,340 which is 33.079 per cent of the total positive cases, the official said.

Ganjam reported the highest number of fresh cases at 273, followed by 56 in Gajapati, 51 in Sundergarh, 37 in Khurda, 29 in Cuttack, 28 in Balasore, 17 in Jagatsinghpur, 16 in Jajpur, 14 in Mayurbhanj and 10 in Rayagada.

Eleven other districts reported fresh cases in single digit, according to the official.

With high incidents of Covid-19 positive cases and fatality number, the Ganjam district administration announced a five-day urban shutdown from July 9 to July 13, Five block headquarters will also remain closed for health screening of tpeople. Ganjam Collector V A Kulange sought cooperation of people for making the health screening successful.

In the last 24 hours, 5,546 Covid-19 samples were tested and a total of 3,02,780 tests have been conducted in the state so far, the official said.

Meanwhile, Odisha on Tuesday launched a serology survey in Bhubaneswar, Cuttack and Ganjam districts.

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, during a review of the prevailing coronavirus situation in the state, asked the officials to include Covid management under the Mo Sarkar (My Government) programme to take feedback from people.

He directed senior officials to interact with patients and frontline workers who work in different Covid hospitals and Temporary Medical Camps. The chief minister also directed officials to keep families of Covid patients informed on their health status.

As a large number of coronavirus cases are being reported from non-Covid medical facilities, Patnaik ordered that patients coming from hotspot districts must undergo antigen tests before being admitted in general hospitals. He also made it mandatory for antigen test of patients before undertaking any surgical procedure in hospitals.

Patnaik also said that online entry facility should be ensured for monitoring Covid Care Homes established at different locations of the state as well as streamlining ambulance service in different exclusive Covid Hospitals.

Aauthorities of the Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC) extended the shutdown in the millennium city till July 10 midnight. The earlier restrictions which were to end on Tuesday midnight has been extended after reviewing the prevailing situation, an official of the CMC said, adding that the weekend shutdown will also apply in the city area on Saturday and Sunday.

In a related development, the Puri district administration also restricted people from outside Puri district from cremating dead bodies at Swargadwar owing to Covid-19 situation, said Puri collector Balwant Singh.

The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) sealed a software company on charges of Covid norm violation after seven of its employees tested positive to the deadly virus. All the 67 staff of the company were asked to go on home quarantine, a BMC official said.

Officials also said that three staff of RTO were detected Covid positive in the state capital. They were engaged in arranging vehicles for transportation of migrant workers.