Odisha's COVID-19 death toll climbs to 103, tally rises to 18,757

The COVID-19 death toll in Odisha crossed the 100-mark on Tuesday, with six more fatalities taking the total to 103, while the state's virus load increased to 18,757 with 647 new cases, a health department official said.

The six fatalities were recorded from six districts. As many as 400 patients recovered from the deadly disease, taking the number of total cured persons to 13,319 which is 70.96 per cent. The fatality rate in Odisha stands at 0.54 per cent.

"Regret to inform the demise of six COVID positive patients while under treatment in hospitals," the health department said in a tweet, adding all of them had comorbidities.

At least four of them were suffering from hypertension, one had cancer, one was a patient of bronchiectasis, the department said.

Two women, both COVID-19 patients, have also died, but the department attributed the cause of their deaths due to "some other reasons".

Of the fresh 647 cases, the official said 431 were reported from quarantine centres and 216 from localities. Ganjam reported the maximum number of fresh cases at 225, followed by Cuttack (84), Khurda (68), Rayagada (47) and Balasore (40).

The number of active cases now is 5,314.

Ganjam reported the highest active cases at 1,920, followed by Khurda (829) and Cuttack (310), the official said.

Nuapada district now has no active cases as all the 100 positive cases have been cured and discharged from hospitals.

A total of 8,042 samples were tested for the infection on Monday, taking the total number of tests conducted so far to 4,01,644, the official added.

Keeping in view the surge of cases in Khurda and Cuttack district, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik announced an assistance of Rs 15 crore each for the two districts. He also appealed to all corporate and community organisations to set up Covid Care Homes and COVID Care Centres to join the fight against COVID-19.

The state government also sanctioned Rs 20.64 crore from the Chief Minister Relief Fund for running new dedicated COVID hospitals and Care Centres for next three months in Khurdha and Cuttack.

Patnaik also congratulated Udayanath Bisoyi, a nonagenarian from Chakunda village of Sorada Block in Ganjam district on successfully winning the battle against COVID-19. Bisoyi's recovery will inspire others to stay strong, he added.

Keeping in view the effect of COVID-19 lockdown and shut down on the livelihood of poor people, the state government announced that it will provide 5kg rice per head and 1 kg pulses per family for 5 months (July-November) under the State Food Security Scheme (SFSS) to those excluded from the benefits of National Food Security Assistance.

Meanwhile, the state government on Tuesday started plasma therapy in Ganjam district for treatment of critical Covid patients. After their recovery, 120 policemen of Ganjam district have volunteered to donate plasma, said Ganjam SP Brijesh Ray. 

Image Credits: PTI