Bhubaneswar: Odisha reported 2074 new covid cases and 65 deaths in the past 24 hours taking the total tally in the state to 9,45,749 with 4795 fatalities.
Health and Family Welfare department sources said out of 2074 new infections,1192 were reported from quarantine centres and 882 are local contact cases.
On Tuesday 65 covid patients succumbed to the virus while undergoing treatment at various hospitals in the state taking the total covid toll in the state to 4795.
A maximum of 20 people died alone in Khordha district followed by 10 in Bargarh,7 in Sundargarh, six from Puri and 4 in Nabarangpur district.
Similarly, out of 2074 cases, a maximum number of 431 cases were reported from Khordha district followed by 220 in Cuttack,134 from Balasore,125 in Jajpur and 123 from Kendrapara district.
The state for the first time almost after three months reported daily covid load below 2 K on July 11 and also on a subsequent day on July 12 but it again witnessed a marginal jump in the infections to remain above 2K on July 13.
However, the test positivity rate which was 3.9 on Tuesday further reduced to 2.99 today as out of 69,287 tests conducted in the past 24 hours,2074 tested covid positive.
At least four districts such as Puri, Khordha, Cuttack and Nayagarh have a test positivity rate of more than 5 per cent with Puri recording the highest TPR of 12.4 per cent followed by Khordha ( 7.6), Cuttack (6.8). The rest 26 districts in Odisha have TPR below 5 per cent.
Sources said the state government might contemplate unlocking after July 16 in as many as 15 districts where the test positivity rate is less than 2 per cent.
However, the lockdown which will come to an end on 6 AM of July 16 might be extended in the districts, mostly the coastal Odisha where the TPR is high and maintaining above 5 per cent despite the night curfew, lockdown and weekend shut down.
The state government is contemplating introducing special containment measures in the twin cities of Bhubaneswar and Cuttack which have been reporting the highest number of daily covid load cases. The twin cities have also registered the highest number of active cases.
At present, the government has categorised the districts as A and B based on test positivity rate and active cases.
While 20 districts are included in the A category, ten districts, mostly in the coastal areas, are coming under B category districts where the lockdown relaxation is given from 6 AM to 2 PM.
In A category districts, the relaxation has been further extended from 6 AM to 6 PM and permission to run public transport services.
Official sources said the active cases further declined to 22,860. As many as 20 districts in the state have active cases less than 500 while three districts –Nayagarh, Angul and Sundargarh have active cases of less than 1000.
Five other districts- Puri, jajpur, Bhadrak, Balasore and Mayurbhanj have active cases above 1000 but less than 2000.
On the other hand, Khordha has 4784 active cases. Highest in the state followed by Cuttack ( 3289).
The recovery in the state surged to 9,18,041 with 2641 people being cured on Tuesday.
The state government has decided not to allow the Kaudias /Bolbom devotees to carry water from religious places or any other sources and walk on public roads and pour the holy water in Shiva temples during the Shravan month.
In the Odia month of Shravan, lakhs of people in the state carry water from religious places and walk barefoot several miles to put the holy water on Lord Shiva across the temples each Monday.
These people start their journey on Saturday, Sunday and Monday by collecting the holy water and pouring it on Lord Shiva lingam in the temples on Monday.
