BHUBANESWAR: Even as the daily infection count in Odisha plunged below the 5,000-mark on Saturday, the surge in COVID fatalities remained a concern for health officials.
Health and Family Welfare department officials said the daily caseload dropped below 5,000 after a gap of 18 days. The State reported 4,842 new cases in the last 24 hours bringing down the test positivity rate to 7.5 per cent from 8.2 per cent the previous day. Khurda district reported the highest 1,253 infections, followed by 443 in Cuttack.
However, the State logged 15 fresh fatalities, the highest in nearly five months, pushing the toll to 8,575. Three fatalities each were reported from Khurda and Ganjam.
Health officials said the Omicron variant of the virus has started dominating as nearly 60 per cent of the cases reported these days are of the new strain. Director of Institute of Life Sciences (ILS), Bhubaneswar Dr Ajay Parida said the Delta variant had swept the State and country last year during the second wave while the Omicron variant is gradually taking over the current wave.
Dr Parida said during January 2021, the Delta variant constituted only 12 per cent of the infections. Later it became the dominant strain and was found in nearly 98 per cent cases. Omicron has already reached to this extent in places like Delhi during the current wave, he said.