Odisha: Back from Amphan duty in Bengal, 54 more firemen test positive
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BHUBANESWAR: The number of rescue personnel, who have tested positive for Covid-19 after returning from post-Amphan restoration work in West Bengal, rose to 115 in the state with 54 fresh such cases on Thursday, government authorities said.
Odisha added 136 more positive cases, raising the total number of infected persons to 3,386.
The 54 firefighters are from Odisha Fire Service. Earlier, 12 fire personnel and 49 from the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) at Mundali in Cuttack district had tested positive for the virus. Government sources said the number may go up as the results of some more fire personnel were awaited.
A 372-member of the fire service and 190-member of the NDRF had gone to Bengal to help in relief and restoration work there. Almost all of the positive personnel are without any symptoms, the government sources said. They were in 14-day quarantine after their return from the neighbouring state.
The other positive cases were spread across 14 districts including Khurda (17), Kandhamal (15) and Ganjam (3), among others.
Meanwhile, a 38-year-old woman of Bhubaneswar, who had tested positive for Covid-19, died owing to non-Covid reasons, the health department said. The government attributed her death to septic shock with multi-organ failure.
“Regret to inform that one female #Covid19 positive patient of Bhubaneswar, aged 38 years, who was under long-standing treatment for psoriasis and was on immunosuppressant drugs, has passed away,” the health department tweeted. It is the third such death of a Covid-19 patient from non-Covid reasons while altogether nine persons have died due to Covid-19, the health department updates show.
Another 72 Covid-19 patients have recovered and were discharged, the health department said. They include 17 from Ganjam besides Sonepur (9), Balangir (7), Jagatsinghpur (6), five each from Cuttack, Kalahandi and Sundargarh, four each from Balasore and Mayurbhanj, three each from Khurda, Kandhamal and Sambalpur and one from Jharsuguda.
The total recovered cases in the state now stand at 2,354. The state’s recovery rate is 69.5%.