Odisha reports 8,778 Covid cases; TPR increases to 11.76%

Bhubaneswar, Jan 12 With passing of each day, Covid infection rate is touching new high in Odisha. The state has reported 8,778 fresh Covid cases on Wednesday taking the active caseload to 35,242.

As per the information shared on the state Covid dashboard, out of the 8,778 cases, 792 are children below 18 years of age.

Highest 2,615 cases were reported from Khurda district, followed by Sundargarh (1252), Cuttack (766), Sambalpur (596), Mayurbhanj (338), Balasore (231), Balangir (216), Puri (216) and Jharsuguda (203). Remaining districts have reported below 200 cases.

A total of 74,611 samples were tested in the state in the past 24 hours. The daily test positivity rate (TPR) increased to 11.76 per cent from 10.25 per cent recorded the previous day.

Districts like Sundargarh, Khurda, Sambalpur and Cuttack have been put under red zone due to high number of cases while Balasore has been classified as yellow zone. Remaining 25 districts are under the green zone as these districts have below 1,000 active cases.

"The Covid infection rate is increasing in other countries and some other States too. Here in Odisha also the cases are increasing and the TPR also increased to 11.7 per cent as four to five districts report high rate," said director of public health, Niranjan Mishra.

However, most of the people infected with the virus get mild symptoms or asymptomatic and rate of hospitalisation & fatality and demand of ICU beds have remained very low, said Mishra, adding, "We can say the situation is totally under control now."

"As per our prediction, such scenario will continue January, February and some days of March," he said.

All district collectors have been asked to adopt cluster containment strategy to break the chain of transmission of the virus, added the director.