BHUBANESWAR: The Covid-19 tally of the State Capital crossed 18,000 mark on Saturday after 342 more persons in the city tested positive for the virus in the last 24 hours. Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) officials, however, said the day marked a major milestone with the city crossing the two-lakh mark in Covid test with a cumulative case positivity rate of 9.09 per cent.
The new cases reported in the city included 13 employees of a Central Government hospital and nine employees of a private hospital. The new cases pushed the Covid-19 tally of the city to 18,267 which included 14,052 recoveries and 4,133 active cases.
The city reported 421 new cases of recovery on the day, even as the Covid death toll remained at 68. BMC officials said the number of tests done in the city has also increased to 2,00,895. Of these tests, 1,35,118 have been done in Government facilities which include 68,232 RT-PCR, 61,217 rapid antigen and 627 Truenat tests.
Apart from Government health facilities, private labs have conducted a total 65,777 RT-PCR, rapid antigen and TrueNaat tests. Meanwhile, ECoR senior section engineer Kanduri Charan Pradhan died while undergoing Covid treatment at a private hospital. Pradhan (52) was looking after the progress of Khurda Road-Balangir rail link project. He is survived by his wife and two daughters. He is the first railway official to succumb to the disease.