BHUBANESWAR: With 20 more persons testing positive for Covid-19, Odisha on Thursday reported the highest single day spike taking the total cases to 205.
As many as 28 people tested positive in the last 24 hours. Mayurbhanj became the 18th district to report the coronavirus infection. While Ganjam registered 17 cases and Jagatsinghpur recorded four, Mayurbhanj reported three cases, followed by two in Jajpur and one each in Balasore and Kendrapara.
Earlier, 18 cases, all from Bhubaneswar in Khurda district were recorded in one day on April 5 and 15 cases from Jajpur (14) and Balasore (1) on April 30.
The returnees from West Bengal and Gujrat continue to fuel the numbers in Odisha as 24 positive cases detected in Ganjam, Jagatsinghpur and Mayurbhanj are imported from Surat. The affected persons in Jajpur, Balasore and Kendrapara had eturned from West Bengal.
The number of cases crossed 200 mark in the State within 53 days. While it took 42 days for the first 100 cases, the next 100 cases were recorded in just 11 days. The first case was reported on March 15.
With 17 new cases as the district tally rose to 21 within five days, Ganjam turned into a new COVID-19 hotpot in the State after Khurda, Jajpur, Balasore and Bhadrak. The cases reported in Ganjam are from quarantine centres. They have been shifted to COVID-19 care centres.
Meanwhile, the Ganjam district administration has requested all people to stay away from quarantine centres and follow social distancing strictly. Since the returnees are coming from hotspot area, only authorised persons are allowed to enter the quarantine centres and temporary medical centres.
Six districts have reported positive cases in double digits and account for nearly 90 per cent of the total cases. Jajpur has the highest 55 cases, followed by Khurda (47), Balasore (25), Bhadrak (21) and Sundargarh (12). The rest 12 districts have cases in single digits and 12 other districts have not reported
any cases.
Of the 205 positive cases, 60 have recovered so far and 142 are undergoing treatment at different Covid hospitals and care centres. Among the positive cases, 154 are men and 51 are women. Two persons have succumbed to the disease in the State so far.