COVID-19 death toll rises to 8, cases cross 2,600 in Odisha

Odisha reported the eighth fatality due to COVID-19 and 130 fresh cases on Friday, pushing the number of total infections in the state to 2,608, a health department official said.

"Regret to inform that a 63-year-old male patient of Khurda district, who had tested positive for COVID, passed away while under treatment in hospital," the official said in a statement, adding that 123 patients recovered from the disease on Friday.

The man was the fourth COVID-19 patient from Khurda district to die of the disease. Three other fatalities have been reported from Ganjam and one from Cuttack, he said.

Odisha reported the first COVID-19 death on April 6 and

Of the 130 cases reported on Friday, 124 were from quarantine centres where people returning from different states are staying. The rest have no travel history, the official said.

The fresh cases came from 21 districts, and Cuttack reported the highest number of cases (23), followed by Khurda and Mayurbhanj districts (22 each).

Ganjam reported 12, Gajapati and Sundergarh 7 each and Koraput 6.

Four cases each were reported from Bargarh and Bhadrak, three each from Jajpur, Bolangir, Kandhamal and Kalahandi, two each from Dhenkanal, Keonkjhar and Kendrapara districts and one each from Sonpeur, Angul, Jagatsinghpur, Rayagada and Puri districts, the official said.

On the recovery of 123 patients, the health department said 35 patients have been cured in Ganjam district, 22 in Cuttack, 14 each in Nuapada and Balangir, 10 in Khurda, 7 in Kandhamal, 5 in Koraput, 4 in Kendrapada, 3 each in Balasore, Dhenkanal and Nayagarh, and 1 each in Angul, Mayurbhanj and Sundargarh. The total number of coronavirus cases in Odisha now stands at 2,608. Of them, 994 are active, 1,604 have recovered and eight have died, the official said.

The state has so far tested 1,69,010 samples for COVID-19. Of the 30 districts in the state, eight have reported more than 100 COVID-19 cases. These are Ganjam (533), Jajpur(293), Khurda (217), Balasore (179), Kendrapara (163), Cuttack (154), Bhadrak (136) and Bolangir (105).

As migrant workers continue to return to the state since May 3, the state government has set up 16,797 temporary medical centres in 6,798 gram panchayats where 7,58,555 beds are arranged for institutional quarantine, an official said.