BHUBANESWAR: Odisha continued to report less than 2,000 new Covid-19 cases for last four days in a row bringing down the daily positivity rate to below 5% for the second consecutive day on Thursday. As many as 1,913 new infections recorded in the last 24 hours taking the tally to 2,76,094.
The cumulative positivity rate, however, remained at 6.56% as against the national average of 6.96%. As the daily count declined considerably, the number of districts reporting more than 100 cases a day has also come down from 17 a month ago to just three.
Of the 1,913 new cases, 1,109 were from quarantine centres and 804 local contacts. Khurda registered the maximum 254 cases, followed by Cuttack (150) and Angul (106). Among other districts, Jagatsinghpur and Sundargarh recorded 99 each and Mayurbhanj 92 cases.
With the rise in the recovery rate, the active cases have also reduced significantly. The number of active cases was down below 20,000 after August 18. The active cases now stand at 19,932. Six districts – Khurda, Cuttack, Sundargarh, Mayurbhanj, and Balasore account for around 45 pc of total active cases of the State. The districts have more than 1000 active cases each.
There is, however, no let-up in the Covid fatalities as 15 more patients, including four women, succumbed to the disease. Among the deceased, three each were from Angul and Mayurbhanj, two from Dhenkanal, Sonepur, and Bhubaneswar, and one each from Cuttack, Sundargarh, and Puri. One 29-year-old woman from Rourkela without having any comorbidities died of the disease. With this, the death toll soared to 1249, including 53 other than Covid deaths.
Additional Chief Secretary of Health department PK Mohapatra said the infection growth rate in the state has reduced below one pc and the recovery rate increased. “But we have been witnessing a bad trend of people are not coming forward for tests. Suppressing symptoms may turn fatal,” he warned and urged people with flu-like symptoms to volunteer for the Covid test.
The State has, so far, conducted 41,99,508 tests including 40,114 in the last 24 hours.
Meanwhile, the State Government has estimated a total of 2,93,963 confirmed cases and 22,929 active cases by October 31. While the third phase sero survey in Bhubaneswar has been completed, the study will be conducted in Cuttack and Puri after Dussehra.