BHUBANESWAR: New Covid-19 cases surged past 1,000 mark for the first time this year with 1,282 persons testing positive in Odisha in the last 24 hours, recording a rise of 46 per cent (pc) over the previous day’s count of 879 cases.The daily caseload breached 1,000 mark after over five months pushing the active cases over 5,000. On November 8, as many as 1,219 cases were reported.
Of the fresh cases spread across 28 districts, 755 were in quarantine and 527 local infections. The local transmission also jumped by 46 pc in a day as 361 local cases were recorded on Thursday.The test positivity rate (TPR) shot up to 4.4 pc from 2.83 pc a day before. The State had conducted 29,081 tests during the period taking the total number of tests to over 93 lakh.
Three districts crossed three-digit figure with Sundargarh registering maximum 224 cases, followed by Khurda (192) and Kalahandi (108). Among other districts, 84 cases were detected in Bargarh, 82 each in Nuapada and Sambalpur, 63 in Cuttack, 52 in Mayurbhanj, 49 in Angul, 45 in Balangir, 36 in Jharsuguda, 32 in Ganjam, 28 in Puri, 27 in Nabarangpur, 26 Jajpur and 24 in Bhadrak.
Seven districts bordering Chhattisgarh recorded 569 cases accounting for around 44 pc of the daily caseload. Since the border districts emerged as hotspots, Odisha government suspended all public transport from the state and vice-versa till April 30.With the infections catching up fast, Odisha became the 16th country to report more than 1,000 cases a day during the second wave.
With the new cases, the tally soared to 3,46,808, of which 3,39,200 patients, including 310 on Friday, have recovered. One more Covid patient succumbed to the disease taking the death toll to 1,924. The active cases climbed to 5,631.
Additional Chief Secretary of Health PK Mohapatra said though the infection is spreading at least 51 pc faster than the previous year, the fatality is negligible. “We are keeping a close eye and accordingly the districts have been asked to be ready with hospital beds, ICUs and ventilators apart from Covid care centres,” he added. Chief Secretary Suresh Chandra Mahapatra and the Additional Chief Secretary are slated to visit Nuapada and Kalahandi on Saturday and Sambalpur and Sundargarh districts on Wednesday to oversee preparedness of facilities and deployment of manpower.