14 new COVID-19 cases in Odisha

At least 14 people, mostly Surat returnees, tested positive for COVID-19 in Odisha on Monday, taking the virus tally in the state to 391, the Health and Family Welfare department said. The fresh cases were reported from Ganjam (12) and one each from Sundergarh and Kendrapara districts, they said.

While all the 12 new cases from Ganjam are those who returned from Surat recently and kept in quarantine centres, the patient in Sundergarh got the infection from a previous case. The person who tested positive in Kendrapara also returned from Surat. Therefore, of the 14 new cases, 13 were Surat returnees, the official said.

The number of coronavirus cases in Ganjam district has mounted to 137, which is the highest in the state, while the number of cases in Sundergarh increased to 14 and nine in Kendrapara districts.

There are 320 active cases in the state, while 68 people have so far recovered and three (two from Bhubaneswar and one from Ganjam) have died of COVID-19. Odisha on Sunday also carried 3,698 tests, the highest number of tests in a single day for coronavirus while the total number of samples tested so far has increased to 63,478, the official said.

While Ganjam district tops the list of COVID-19 cases with 137, it is followed by 60 in Jajpur, 50 in Bhubaneswar, 42 in Balasore, 15 in Angul, 14 in Sundergarh, 9 Kendrapara, 8 Mayurbhanj, 5 Jagatsinghpur, 3 each in Puri and Boudh, 2 each in Keonjhar, Kalahandi, Jharsuguda, Cuttack, Bolangir and one each in Nayagarh, Koraput, Dhenkanal and Deogarh.

Meanwhile, the Ganjam district administration in order has said that COVID-19 patients will work as COVID Community Health Workers after the mandatory quarantine period. 

(Representational image: PTI)