Odisha Health Dept Shares Details About ‘Second’ COVID Death This Year

Bhubaneswar: Amid spiralling COVID cases, Odisha on Friday reported 258 fresh infections with a test positivity rate of 4,1% while the heath department confirmed one death due to the virus after an audit.

The deceased has been identified as a 65-year-old woman of Jharsuguda district. She was suffering from acute kidney infection, chronic kidney disease, end-stage renal disease and pulmonary edema, it tweeted.

Some sections of media had reported about an 80-year-old man having succumbed to the disease while undergoing treatment at SCB COVID hospital, which the authorities later denied.

Earlier this month, a 50-year-old man from Sundargarh district had succumbed to the disease while undergoing treatment at a COVID hospital. This was reported to be the the first COVID death in the state in last five months. The last death was reported on November 6, 2022.

Notably, the COVID scare has returned amid a significant rise in daily infection in the past week with Sonepur recorded the highest weekly positivity rate of 10.8 per cent in the state between April 5 and 11. The state now has 1186 active cases. There has also been a rise in juvenile cases, indicating the infection has started spreading among children.