Odisha's COVID-19 tally jumps to 1,16,678 with over 3,200 fresh cases

Odisha's COVID-19 tally mounted to 1,16,678 on Friday with 3,267 people, including a ruling BJD MLA, testing positive, a health department official said. Nine more fatalities pushed the state's coronavirus death toll to 531, he said. The deaths were reported from five districts Bolangir, Cuttack, Ganjam and Khurda districts registered eight fatalities, while one patient succumbed to the virus in Rayagada.

Ganjam district has so far accounted for 199 deaths, followed by Khurda (72). Of the fresh cases, 1,961 were reported from quarantine centres, and 1,306 people tested positive during contact-tracing, the official said. The Odisha government has launched fresh contact- tracing and follow-up measures, he said.

Khurda district topped the list of new cases with 859 infections, followed by Cuttack (384) and Puri (235).  Meanwhile, Basudevpur MLA Bishnubrata Routray, in a social media post, said he has tested positive for COVID-19 and urged all those who came in contact with him to exercise precaution.

"If anybody is found with even the smallest of symptoms, please consult a doctor as soon as possible," he said.

Odisha now has 28,743 active cases, while 87,351 people have so far recovered from the disease, the official said. The state has thus far conducted over 19.97 lakh sample tests, including 46,754 on Thursday.