At 17, Odisha sees highest single-day Covid deaths

BHUBANESWAR: In the highest single-day casualty, 17 Covid patients died in the state in the last 24 hours, raising the virus death toll to 859 on Thursday. Altogether 3,615 more patients tested positive for the virus, taking the caseload to 2,22,734.
According to the state’s Covid dashboard, four more persons died in Khurda district, including three from Bhubaneswar. The death toll in Khurda district rose to 138. Two each died of Covid in Cuttack and Nayagarh. One each died in Angul, Bhadrak, Balangir, Dhenkanal, Jagatsinghpur, Kalahandi, Kendrapada, Puri and Rayagada.
Additional chief secretary (health) Pradipta Kumar Mohapatra said the government’s technical committee of doctors has been monitoring the condition of each and every critical patient in order to arrest the deaths. “Any death is unfortunate, but the government is ensuring that critical care is available to all the patients who need it. All efforts are being made to bring down the deaths as per protocol,” he added.
He further said enough beds, including in ICUs, were available for Covid patients.
Notably, Odisha’s Covid death rate is 0.38% against the national average of 1.56%.
The 3,615 new positive cases were from among the samples of 49,645 with a positivity rate of 7.28%. Khurda (671), Cuttack (371) and Puri (197) reported the maximum number of positive cases. Among the total positive cases, more than 52% (1,16,609) were in the age group of 15 to 40 years.
On a positive note, 4,380 Covid patients recovered from Covid, raising the number of cured patients to 1,90,080. Khurda (770) and Cuttack (558) led in recoveries as well. The total active positive cases went down further to 31,472, which is the lowest in the past two weeks and is less than the active positive cases on September 15 (32,214). The active positive cases in Deogarh went below 100 and stands at 94 now.
The state’s position improved from the seventh to eighth among Indian states and UTs in active positive cases with the number falling below Assam’s 34,496 cases. Maharashtra (2.59 lakh), Karnataka (1.67 lakh), Kerala (67,000+), Andhra Pradesh (58,000+), Uttar Pradesh (50,000+) and Tamil Nadu (46,000+) are other states having more active positive cases than Odisha’s.
Dr Jayant Panda, government’s technical adviser on Covid-19, said the falling active positive cases is a sign of the improving situation. “There may be no further rise in active positive cases. The peak may have passed. It’s a falling trend for the state now,” he said.
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