Odisha's COVID-19 tally crosses 18,000-mark; death toll climbs to 97

The COVID-19 tally in Odisha crossed the 18,000-mark with 673 more people testing positive for the disease, while six fresh fatalities pushed the death toll to 97, a health department official said on Monday. With 673 new cases, the coronavirus caseload in the state rose to 18,110, while the recovery of 457 patients took the total number of cured persons so far to 12,910.

The COVID-19 tally in Odisha crossed the 18,000-mark with 673 more people testing positive for the disease, while six fresh fatalities pushed the death toll to 97, a health department official said on Monday. With 673 new cases, the coronavirus caseload in the state rose to 18,110, while the recovery of 457 patients took the total number of cured persons so far to 12,910. The COVID-19 recovery rate in the state is 71.28 per cent. The number of active cases in the state is 5,075, the official said. Odisha's COVID-19 fatality rate now stands at 0.53 per cent, the official said, adding that at least 72 persons have succumbed to the infection in a span of 20 days. The state's death toll till June 30 was 25 which rose to 97 on July 20. Of the six latest casualties, five were reported from Ganjam, the worst-hit district, and one from Gajapati. Two men from Ganjam, aged 42 and 70 years, died of coronavirus, he said, adding they were also suffering from diabetes. A 52-year-old man from the district, who was also suffering from hypertension and diabetes, succumbed to COVID-19, the official said, adding that two more men, aged 54 and 40 years, also died of the disease.

A 55-year-old woman died of coronavirus in Gajapati, the official said, adding that she was also a diabetes patient. Ganjam has the highest number of 59 fatalities in the state followed by Khurda (13), Cuttack (8) and Gajapati (4). Two deaths each have been reported from Angul, Puri and Sundergarh and one death each from Bargarh, Bhadrak, Jagatsinghpur, Jajpur, Kendrapara, Nayagarh and Rayagada.

The fresh COVID-19 cases were detected in 23 districts of the state. As many as 446 people were found COVID-19 positive in different quarantine centres, while 227 cases were detected through contact tracing exercises, the official said. Ganjam reported the maximum of 239 fresh cases followed by Khurda and Bhadrak (58 each), Kandhamal (44), Koraput (41), Jagatsinghpour (36), Cuttack (32), Jajpur (28), Keonjhar (24), Bargarh (22), Gajapati (15), Jharsuguda (14), Balasore (13), Sundergarh (11) and Dhenkanal (10). Eight other districts reported new cases, but the numbers are in single digits, the official said. A total of 7,500 samples were tested in the last 24 hours in the state, the officer said. Ganjam has so far reported 31.88 per cent (5,766 positive cases) of the state's total caseload and accounts for 60.82 per cent (59 deaths) of the fatalities. Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik granted Rs 25 crore for the district to develop medical infrastructure and other expenses. During a review meeting through video conferencing, Patnaik said keeping in view the surge of infection in Ganjam, a dedicated 100-bedded (including 16-bed ICU) COVID hospital will be set up at Amit Hospital in Berhampur. The facility will be operated by Ashwini Hospital, Cuttack. It was also decided to start plasma therapy at Tata COVID Hospital in Ganjam district from Tuesday. The plasma therapy was earlier launched in SUM Hospital in Bhubaneswar and Aswini COVID hospital in Cuttack on July 18. "Appeal all those who have recovered from COVID-19 to donate plasma and help save precious lives," Patnaik said.

Earlier, the state government engaged two IAS officers as additional district magistrates (ADMs), 25 OAS officers, 105 ORS officers, 30 MBBS doctors, 100 AYUSH doctors and 27 lab technicians in Ganjam district. Three senior police officers in the rank of DSPs and 10 platoon police force will also be sent to Ganjam, an official said. Meanwhile, in a related development, the state government announced incentives for doctors, paramedics and Class IV staff working in COVID hospitals, COVID health centres and COVID care centres. While the doctors will get Rs 1,000 each, paramedics will get Rs 500 and class-IV staff Rs 200 per day for the number of days they serve coronavirus patients. ASHA workers doing door-to-door surveys and special surveys will get Rs 1,000 per month as an incentive from July to October 2020, an official notification said. Anganwadi workers also engaged in the door-to-door and special surveys will get Rs 1,000 per month during the period engaged for surveys.

As reports were received on people avoiding funerals of COVID-19 victims due to fear of contracting infection, the health and family welfare department announced a monetary provision of Rs 7,500 for effective handling and disposal of bodies.