Active Tally Soars Past 600 As COVID Cases Spiral In Odisha Ahead Of Rath Yatra

Bhubaneswar: Odisha continued to register an upward swing in new COVID cases on Wednesday with 161 people being found infected in the last 23 hours against 113 the previous day when the number went by 64 per cent.

. This is the highest single-day count in the last three months.

According to the I & PR department, 95 of the new cases are from quarantine and 66 local contacts. Among them, 24 are in the age group of 0-18 years. The highest of 60 cases are from Khurda followed by 32 from Cuttack and 13 from Sundargarh. Puri, which is likely to witness a congregation of over a million devotees during Rath Yatra on July 1, reported five cases.

Here are the district-wise figures of the new cases:

1. Balasore: 8
2. Bhadrak: 3
3. Cuttack: 32
4. Jagatsinghpur: 3
5. Jajpur: 2
6. Jharsuguda: 3
7. Keonjhar: 1
8. Khurda: 60
9. Mayurbhanj: 1
10. Nuapada: 1
11. Puri: 5
12. Rayagada: 5
13. Sambalpur: 1
14. Sonepur: 8
15. Sundargarh: 13

Besides, 15 from the state pool.

With these cases being detected from 13,317 samples, the test positivity rate (TPR) stood at 1.20 per cent against 1 per cent the previous day. The TRP had almost doubled on Tuesday,  signalling the high growth of the coronavirus infection in the state.

Odisha now has 629 active cases.

On Tuesday, the Centre has asked all states, including Odisha to ensure that people taking part in mass gatherings are asymptomatic and preferably fully vaccinated against COVID-19. The state has also decided to distribute over 10 lakh masks making their use mandatory for all taking part in pulling of chariots at Puri on Friday.