Odisha's COVID-19 tally mounts to 12,526, death toll climbs to 61

Odisha's tally of coronavirus cases rose by 570 to reach 12,526 on Saturday while five more people succumbed to the disease, taking the death toll to 61 in the state, a health department official said.

Of the new fatalities, two were reported from Ganjam district, which is worst-hit by the infection, and one each from Puri, Cuttack and Khurda, he said.

Odisha also reported recovery of 388 patients. The total number of recoveries is now 8,360, which is 66.74 per cent of the total 12,526 cases. The fatality rate stands at 0.48 per cent, the official said.

"Regret to inform the demise of five COVID-19 positive patients while under treatment in hospitals," he said.

Two men, aged 55 and 72, succumbed to the disease in Ganjam, while a 70-year-old man suffering from diabetes and hypertension died in Puri, the official said.

"A 56-year-old woman from Khurda, who was a diabetic, and a 46-year-old man from Cuttack also died. The man had diabetes, hypertension and hypothyroidism," he said.

The official said a 62-year-old woman from Kendrapara district, who had tested positive for COVID-19, died, but the "cause of her death was brain tumour".

He added that she was also suffering from diabetes, hypertension and asthma.

Of the total 61 deaths reported so far, Ganjam accounts for 36, followed by Khurda nine, Cuttack six, Puri two and Angul, Bargarh, Bhadrak, Gajapati, Jajpur, Kendrapara, Rayagada and Sundergarh one each.

The state has added 5,210 positive cases and 36 deaths in just 10 days. While the state's total viral load was 7,316 on July 1, it increased to 12,526 on July 11. Similarly, the death toll also increased to 61 from 25 on July 1.

In regard to Saturday's 570 new cases, 384 were reported from different quarantine centres, while 186 were detected through contact-tracing exercises. The highest of 218 fresh cases have been reported from Ganjam, followed by Cuttack (46), Sundergarh (44), Jajpur (40), Khurda (37), Nayagarh (37), Jharsuguda (31), Gajapati (25), Jagatsinghpur (16) and Puri (15).

Fourteen new cases were detected in Keonjhar, 11 each in Angul and Koraput, and 10 in Mayurbhanj. Five other districts also reported fresh COVID-19 cases but the numbers are in single digit.

With the new cases, fresh recoveries and fatalities, the number of active cases in Odisha now stands at 4,087, the official said.

He added that a total of 5,845 samples were tested for COVID-19 in the past 24 hours.

Keeping in view the surge of cases in July, the state government on Saturday increased the bed capacity in COVID Care Centres and Hospitals. Additional chief secretary, Health and Family Welfare PK Mahapatra said 500 beds have been increased in the COVID Care Centre of the Hi-Tech Medical College and Hospital, while in two COVID Care Centres under the SUM Hospital at Jamujhari and Jatni, 800 and 300 beds, respectively, have been added.

Meanwhile, in a bid to contain the spread of the disease in the state capital, the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation in association with the Regional Medical Research Centre (RMRC) on Saturday began serology surveillance.

"The aim of the surveillance is to ascertain the immunological status of the community and high-risk groups in the city," said RMRC director Saghamitra Pati.

To boost the treatment capacity for the COVID-19 patients, the state government is taking expeditious steps to develop the SCB Medical College and Hospital, Cuttack, as a hub for Plasma Therapy. This will help critical patients and aid in their recovery from the coronaVirus, Dr Jayanta Ponda, the technical advisor to the health department, said.

Several district administrations like those of Ganjam, Gajapati, Malkangiri, Angul and Dhenkanal have imposed restriction on movement of people to and from other hotspot districts within the state.

On Saturday, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik spoke to BJP MLA from Nilagiri, Sukanta Kumar Nayak, and ruling BJD lawmaker from Salipur, Prasant Behera, over phone and enquired about their health condition.

He wished for their speedy recovery and also talked to other health workers and front line fighters being treated after contracting the infection.

Meanwhile, a naib sarpanch and 10 others were arrested for violating social distancing norms by organising a religious function where many people had gathered at a village in Ganjam district recently, police said.

Krushna Chandra Jena, Naib Sarpanch of J Dengapadar panchayat, along with some others, including a priest, had performed a yagna for establishment of a temple at Mardharajpur village under Polasara area on July 7 where several people had congregated, said Inspector In-Charge of Polasara police station, Jitendra Kumar Mallick.

Ganjam district Collector Vijay Amrit Kulange said the naib sarpanch and 10 others have been arrested for violating social distancing norms during the programme organized in Mardarajpur village and a report has been sent to the government for further action.