BHUBANESWAR: The drop in new Covid-19 cases notwithstanding, the State on Friday recorded 23 deaths, the highest single day fatalities in the third wave so far pushing the cumulative toll to 8,689. Khurda reported the maximum seven fatalities, followed by three from Sundargarh, two each from Bhadrak, Ganjam, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara and one each from Balasore, Dhenkanal, Jajpur, Keonjhar and Mayurbhanj.
The State has been announcing more than 15 deaths a day for the past one week. The fatalities rose to double digits from three on January 12. Senior citizens irrespective of vaccination status and children are falling prey to the disease during this wave.While the health officials attributed the deaths to Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 that is causing Covid-19, elderly persons are succumbing due to their co-morbid condition.
The State reported 2,697 new cases, including 435 of the 0-18 years age group, in the last 24 hours. Among the fresh cases, 1,568 were in quarantine and 1,568 local contacts.The infections came down following the dip in number of tests. As many as 60,762 tests were conducted as against 66,702 tests a day ago. The test positivity rate also dropped to 4.4 per cent.
Khurda recorded the maximum 513 cases, followed by 291 from Sundargarh, 138 from Cuttack, 128 from Mayurbhanj and 127 from Jajpur. The cases in western and southern regions have declined considerably. The active cases in the State stood at 24,384 after recovery of 6,109 patients on Friday.