BHUBANESWAR: A fresh cluster emerged from Nuapada district as Odisha recorded 1,833 new Covid cases in the last 24 hours taking the tally to 9,67,548 on Sunday. The death count mounted to 5,512 after the State government announced 67 more fatalities.
Health department sources said 16 inmates of Holy Home, an old age centre, located at Kurumpuri under Komna block in Nuapada were found positive for Covid-19 during a mass testing conducted on Saturday. Following this, the district administration has declared three villages, Kurumpuri, Sinapali and Ghatipada, as containment zone till 6 pm of July 31 to contain spread of infection. Local markets and weekly haats of the panchayat will also remain closed during the period.
The persons returning from other states have been asked to quarantine themselves for seven days to prevent spread of infection. More than a month after the infections declined to below 10 in Nuapada, one of the worst hit districts during the second wave of the pandemic, the emergence of the new cluster has left the locals scared. CDMO Dr Kali Prasad Behera said a team of health officials led by Dr Gopal Mallick has been sent to the old-age home to ascertain the source of infection and the vaccination status of the inmates.
Of the fresh cases, while 1,062 infections were in quarantine centres, the remaining 771 are local contact cases. Khurda district reported the highest 490 new cases followed by Cuttack (243), Puri (139) and Balasore (120). As the number of tests dipped from a range of 80,000 to 71,000, there was a slight rise in test positivity rate from 2.4 pc to 2.6 pc. The TPR was highest at 5.2 pc in Puri and 5.1 pc in Balasore.
There is, however, no let up in the fatalities. Khurda accounted for 24 deaths, 10 each from Angul and Keonjhar, six from Sundargarh, five from Puri and two each from Ganjam and Mayurbhanj. The active cases stood at 16,806.
Meanwhile, the Health department has asked districts recording high cases to closely watch the situation for detection of clusters through prompt surveillance and ramping up testing. Collectors have been directed not to allow a spike in infections in districts reporting cases in single digit.
NEW CLUSTER
Kurumpuri, Sinapali and Ghatipada villages declared containment zone
Locals markets, weekly haats to remain closed
People returning from other states to stay isolated