BHUBANESWAR: The declining rate of infection notwithstanding, Odisha is among top-six states with maximum active cases and high test positivity rate (TPR). The State has a TPR of over 12.7 per cent (last seven days average) as against the national average of 4.9 per cent.
With 71,071 cases Odisha is above states like West Bengal (44,441), Chhattisgarh, (26,977), Rajastahn (21,550), Gujarat (22,110) and Uttar Pradesh (19,434), which have recorded total confirmed cases of more than eight lakh each.
Among the top-five States, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu have the highest active cases of 2.68 lakh each, followed by Maharashtra 1.88 lakh, Kerala 1.67 lakh and Andhra Pradesh 1.28 lakh. The worst hit Delhi now has only 19,438 active cases.
Odisha is among eight States where Covid fatalities continued to be high. The State reported 40 deaths and 7,395 new cases in last 24 hours taking the cumulative death toll close to 3000 and pushing the total confirmed cases to over eight lakh.
Six people from Khurda succumbed to the disease, four each from Cuttack, Mayurbhanj and Sundargarh, three each from Angul, Boudh, Jharsuguda and Kalahandi and two each from Balangir, Bargarh and Deogarh. One patient each fell to the infection in Ganjam, Kandhamal, Nayagarh and Sambalpur.
Of the fresh cases, 4,169 were in quarantine and the rest detected during contact tracing. Khurda topped the chart with 1,069 cases while 868 cases were detected in Cuttack, 516 in Jajpur, 443 in Angul, 356 in Puri and 341 in Kendrapara.
Even as new cases are declining in the western Odisha districts, coastal and central regions are now fueling the Covid tally. Ten districts, including Dhenkanal, Kendrapara, Jagatsinghpur, Jajpur, Boudh, Nayagarh, Mayurbhanj and Malkangiri have the reproduction (R) value of more than one.
Nine of the 30 districts reported less than 100 cases each and 12 districts are now out of the red zone as the active cases have fallen below 1,000. As many as 25 districts were under the red zone last month. Khurda has the highest 9985 active, followed by 7025 in Cuttack, 3909 in Jajpur, 3460 in Puri, 3053 in Balasore and 3010 in Sundargarh.
The total confirmed cases soared to 8,06,094, of which 7,32,018 have recovered so far. The state has conducted 1.21 crore tests, including 70,313 on Friday.