BHUBANESWAR: Days after showing a dropping trend, Covid-19 cases shot up in the State on Thursday with 482 people testing positive against 280 on Wednesday. The infection count had been declining steadily after the July 27 peak.
The test positivity rate (TPR) also shot up to 2.67 per cent as compared to 1.73 per cent on the previous day. While coastal districts reported low numbers, there was a sharp rise in numbers in western and southern regions of the State. A maximum of 107 cases were recorded in Sundargarh followed by 71 in Khurda, 37 in Boudh, 27 in Nabarangpur, 26 in Sambalpur and 24 in Balangir.
Boudh district recorded a whopping 42 per cent TPR followed by 6.6 per cent in Sundargarh and 6.1 per cent in Sambalpur. Health experts alleged Odisha has reduced daily testing despite the Ministry of Health’s repeated alerts to contain the spread of the disease. Although 18,036 tests were conducted in last 24 hours, the testing level had dropped to below 15,000 against the target of 25,000 samples a day.
Director of Health Services Dr Bijay Mohapatra said, “As expected earlier, the infection spread in the State had declined by mid-August. The cases are soaring again in Delhi and the detection of new sub-variants is stated to be the reason behind the rise. People have to remain cautious and follow the mask rules.” Meanwhile, the death toll rose to 34 after one more patient died of the disease.