Odisha records 10,635 new coronavirus cases, 19 more fatalities on May 9

Odisha on Sunday registered

10,635 new COVID-19 cases, pushing the caseload to 5,34,842, while the death toll rose to 2,180 with 19 more fatalities, a senior health department official said.

Of the 10,635 new cases, 6,012 were reported from various quarantine centres, and the rest detected during contact tracing, the official stated.

Khurda district, of which state capital Bhubaneswar is a part, recorded the highest number of new cases at 1,564, followed by Sundrgarh at 943 and Cuttack at 887.

Barring Kandhamal and Malkangiri, all other 28 districts reported more than 100 new cases, the official said.

"Regret to inform the demise of nineteen Covid positive patients while under treatment in hospitals," the Health and Family Welfare (H&FW) Department tweeted.

Of the 19 fatalities, three each were recorded in Khurda and Kalahandi. One patient each succumbed to the infection in Angul, Bolangir, Bhadrak, Dhenkanal, Ganjam, Gajapati, Jajpur, Jharsuguda, Puri, Rayagada, Sambalpur, Sonepur, and Sundergarh districts.

This apart, 53 COVID-19 patients in the state have died due to comorbidities.

Odisha currently has 93,287 active cases, while as many as 4,39,322 patients have recovered from the highly infectious disease. The coastal state's positivity rate stands at 5.09 per cent, the official said.

Over 1.05 crore sample tests have been conducted in the state thus far, including 48,757 on Saturday, he added.

Meanwhile, a high-level team led by AK Tripathy, the principal adviser to the chief minister, visited Sundergarh district, which comprises the steel city of Rourkela, and reviewed the COVID-19 situation on Sunday.

"There has been an alarming rise in COVID-19 cases in Sundergarh. At least 90 ICUs and 120 oxygen beds will be added to the existing facilities in the district. I thank the central public sector undertakings such as the RSP and NTPC for supporting the fight against Covid-19 in the district," Tripathy said after a review meeting, also attended by the National Health Mission director (Odisha) Shalini Pandit.

Sundergarh happens to be among the worst-affected districts of Odisha.

The district, at present, accounts for 11,063 active cases, and the figure is likely to increase in the next couple of days, Tripathy said, further giving assurance that vaccination for people in the age bracket of 18-45 years will start in Rourkela from Tuesday.

Efforts are also underway to enhance the ICU capacity in Bargarh district, he said.

"An RT-PCR facility will be set up in Bargarh soon. Also, problems due to oxygen shortage has been sorted out, Tripathy added.