Bhubaneswar: Odisha is among the top 10 states in India in terms of COVID-19 active cases, Union health secretary Rajesh Bhushan told the media on Thursday.
The others are Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat Delhi and Rajasthan.
Eleven states/UTs have more than 50,000 active COVID-19 cases and 515 districts are reporting weekly case positivity of over 5 per cent, he said.
Active cases in Odisha touched 88,346 on Thursday as 10.361 more people tested positive for the virus in the last 24 hours. The test positivity rate, however, has dropped to 13.7 per cent from 16.7 per cent the previous day.
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The state has so far reported 347 Omicron cases and this variant of COVID-19 is fast replacing the Delta variant, a study by the Institute of Life Sciences said.
During a press conference on the COVID-19 situation in India, the health secretary further said Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh are the ‘states of concern’.
Special health teams have been sent to these states and they are continuously reviewing the situation, he said.
“Asia is showing a sharp surge in global contribution from 7.9 per cent to approx 18.4 per cent in 4 weeks. A sharp surge is also seen in COVID cases in India,” he said.
Around 72 per cent of the population is fully vaccinated, he added.
