Odisha reports 154 new COVID-19 cases, 1,13,623 people inoculated

Odisha's COVID-19 caseloadmounted to 3,34,020 on Friday as 154 more people testedpositive for the infection, a health department official said.

The death toll remained at 1,903 as no new fatalitydue to the infection was reported, he said.

Sambalpur district recorded the highest number offresh cases at 19, followed by Sundargarh and Puri at 18 each.

Nine districts - Deogarh, Ganjam, Kalahandi,Kandhamal, Koraput, Malkangiri, Mayurbhanj, Nabarangpur andRayagada - did not register any new case since Thursday.

Meanwhile, the state intensified the ongoinginoculation drive by setting a target of administering thefirst dose of COVID-19 vaccines to all frontline workers byJanuary 25.

A total of 1,13,623 frontline workers received thejabs in the state since the launch of the nationwidevaccination programme on January 16, Health and Family Welfaredirector Bijay Panigrahi said.

The department will receive another consignment of1,49,760 doses of 'Covaxin' soon, he said.

Panigrahi said the vaccination programme will beconducted at Primary Health Centres and Community HealthCentres on three days a week -Tuesdays, Wednesdays andFridays.

However, the drive will be carried out at thegovernment and private medical colleges and hospitals everyday except holidays.

Odisha now has 1,519 active cases, while 3,30,545patients have recovered from the disease so far.

Of the 1,903 fatalities reported in the state, Khurdadistrict accounted for 334, followed by Ganjam (248),Sundargarh (171), Cuttack (141) and Puri (117).

Fifty-three other COVID-19 patients have also died dueto the comorbidities, he said.

The state has so far conducted over 75 lakh sampletests for COVID-19, including 23,934 on Thursday, and thepositivity rate stands at 4.45 per cent.