COVID Surge In Odisha: Positivity Rate Inches Closer To 30% In Sundargarh, 10 Districts In RED Zone

Bhubaneswar: The test positivity rate (TPR) climbed to 11.76 per cent on Wednesday (January 12) from 10.2 per cent a day ago and 6.5 per cent on Monday, as Odisha reported 8,778 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours.

According to the state dashboard, 10 districts were in the RED zone with TPR above 7.5 per cent on January 11. They are Sundargarh, Khurda, Cuttack, Sambalpur, Puri, Jharsuguda, Mayurbhanj, Balasore, Rayagada and Nabarangpur.

The positive rate has spiralled to 28.1 per cent in Sundargarh, where new infections are multiplying at an alarming pace. The daily caseload breached the 1000-mark on Tuesday (January 11) as 1147 people tested positive for the virus while another 1,252 were found infected on Wednesday (January 12).

Notably, the district had reported only 23 cases on January 1 and the tally touched 166 in the next four days before a steep surge took the cumulative total to 5,551 (January 1-12).

Khurda has the second-highest TRP of 20.1 per cent. The district has been topping the daily cases tally in the state and currently has 11.049 active cases. It reported 2615 new cases in the last 24 hours.

Also Read: Daily COVID Caseload Inches Closer To 9000-Mark In Odisha; Positivity Rate Rises To 11.76%

Sambalpur is a close third with a TRP of 19.1 per cent. The district saw the highest single-day rise in COVID cases on January 10 with 644 people testing positive for the virus, while 609 and 596 infections were reported on January 11 and January 12 respectively. Sambalpur now has 3065 active cases.

The TPR in other districts marked as RED ZONE: Cuttack (13.1 per cent), Puri (11.4), Mayurbhanj (11.3), Jharsuguda (10), Balangir (9.8), Gajapati (8.3) and Nabarangpur (7.7).

On January 10, Sundargarh had the highest TRP of 22.8 per cent, followed by Khurda (17.1), Sambalpur (15.8), Koraput (12.4) and Cuttack (11.1). Along with these five districts, Puri, Balangir and Jharsuguda were also in the RED ZONE with a TPR of over 7.5 per cent.

Notably, Director of Public Health Niranjan Mishra told the media earlier in the day that Odisha is likely to witness a continued rise in daily COVID caseload for another two months.

Though the test positivity rate is high in 4-5 districts, death, hospitalisation and ICU occupancy is currently low in the state, he said, adding that hospital beds will be increased depending on the number of cases in future.

Also Read: Four Odisha Districts In Red Zone, Most New COVID Infections Among Unvaccinated 19-40 Age Group

In terms of active cases, Khurda (11,049), Sundargarh (5,226), Sambalpur (3,065) and Cuttack (2,679) are in the RED ZONE.