BHUBANESWAR: Odisha witnessed a significant spike in new Covid-19 cases for the second consecutive day on Wednesday as 161 people tested positive for the virus. The cases were up by 42 pc in last 24 hours.
Of the fresh cases, 24 were in the age group of 0-18 years. While 95 were from quarantine, 66 were local contacts. The infections spread to 15 districts from six a day before. Khurda reported the highest 60 new cases followed by 32 from Cuttack, 13 from Sundargarh, eight each from Sonepur and Balasore, five each Puri and Rayagada and three each from Bhadrak, Jharsuguda and Jagatsinghpur.
While Rayagada, which had seen only four cases in last two months, recorded three cases in one day, Sonepur reported new cases after a gap of 56 days. The test positivity rate (TPR) also soared to 1.16 per cent (pc) from one pc on Tuesday. The TPR in eight districts was more than one pc with Cuttack registering the highest 4.52 pc, followed by Khurda (4.49 pc), Sonepur (4.1 pc), Balasore (1.61 pc) and Sundargarh (1.5 pc). The active cases rose to 574 after the recovery of 55 patients.