Odisha Reports 500+ Covid Cases for Third Consecutive Day

Bhubaneswar: The daily Covid cases in Odisha continued to report over 500 mark for the third consecutive day with a very marginal reduction reported during the last 24 hours. Health department sources said 572 new Covid cases were reported in the past 24 hours which is only six less than the number of infections recorded in the previous day. With this the cumulative Covid cases positive cases in the state rose to 12, 94,076 while the number of active cases stood at 3360. Out of the total 572 cases as many as 336 were recorded from quarantine centres, and 236 as local contact cases. At least 69 Covid cases positive cases were detected in the age group of 0 to 18 years. Khordha district reported 219 cases, the highest in the state followed by Cuttack (68), Sundergarh (63) and Sambalpur (41). Official reports said fresh positive cases were reported from 25 districts from 13,462 sample tests and registering the Test Positive Report of the state at 4.24 per cent. Odisha Health Secretary N K Dhal said covid infections are rising in Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Rourkela and Puri. However, the situation is under control, he said adding all the positive cases are mild Only one per cent of the patients had been admitted to the hospital and the rest 99 per cent are in home isolation, he said. Dhal said a month back 10,000 tests were done daily which has been increased to 15,000 per day. The state government, he said is trying to raise the tests to 25,000 daily. The Health Secretary said the government is providing free vaccines to frontline warriors and people above the age of 59. If necessary, the state government, he said, will request the central government to provide the third dose free of cost to the people. Meanwhile, the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation(BMC) in an advisory asked the street vendors, shopping malls, salons, spas, cinema halls and theatres in the capital city to strictly follow covid

guidelines in view of the rise in covid infection cases in the state capital in the past few days. The BMC asked the shop owners like tea, gupchup, lassi stalls to ensure no overcrowding of customers in their shops and to adhere Covid cases appropriate behaviour by their staff and the customers inm their premises.