BHUBANESWAR: In a good sign, the overall recoveries of Covid-19 cases inched closer to 8 lakh mark in Odisha as the number of patients recovering from the disease was more than that of new cases for the past one week.
The total recoveries rose to 7,96,799 after 7,733 more patients recovered on Sunday posting a rate of 93.5 per cent (pc). The State government has projected the recovery rate to cross 96 pc by the end of next week.
Although the rate of infection has slowed down across the State, the fatalities continued to remain above 40 for last nine days. The disease claimed 45 persons from 19 different districts.
Khurda accounted for a maximum six deaths, followed by four from Cuttack and three each from Puri, Sundargarh, Jagatsinghpur, Bhadrak, Dhenkanal and Angul. With this, the death toll soared to 3,302.
The State reported 4,469 fresh cases in last 24 hours pushing the tally to 8,51,782. A total of 2,546 cases were in quarantine while the rest 1,923 were local transmission cases.
With 612 fresh cases, Khurda district was on the top among all districts followed by Cuttack (413), Jajpur (370), Balasore (318), Dhenkanal (252), Puri (243), Angul (226) and Mayurbhanj (216).
Sixteen districts, including eight from western Odisha region that witnessed a raging second wave in the initial days due to the close proximity with Chhattisgarh, registered new cases in double digits.
The cases were between 100 and 200 in six districts.
As many as 62,034 tests including 17,966 through RT-PCR were conducted and the positivity rate dropped to 7.2 per cent.
While the TPR came down below five per cent in 13 districts, it was 10 pc or more in nine districts with Jajpur topping the list at highest 20.8 per cent and Puri at 14.2 per cent.
The number of districts turning green (less than 1000 active cases) also rose to 13.
The highest number of recoveries has been reported from Khurda with around 1203 people recovering from coronavirus infection.
Similarly, 808 patients from Cuttack, 499 from Dhenkanal and 393 from Balasore have recovered. The active cases stood at 51,628.
Black fungus cases rise to 73 in State
BHUBANESWAR: With the detection of two more people suffering from mucormycosis, the number of black fungus cases in the State rose to 73 of which six have succumbed and five recovered.
The other patients are undergoing treatment at both government and private hospitals in the State. A team of health officials has visited AIIMS Bhubaneswar where four patients had recovered recently.
The AIIMS has been directed to report the cases as per the prescribed format in the dedicated portal.
The State has been facing a shortage of Amphotericin B drug essential for the treatment of black fungus cases.
There is a stock of 324 vials against the requirement of 1000 vials.
A senior health official said the hospitals have a stock of 500 vials of Posaconazole, which has been allowed by the National Task Force in case of non-availability of Amphotericin B.