Over 3.34 lakh COVID cases in Odisha;Patnaik hails vaccination drive in the state

Odisha's COVID-19 tally on Sundaymounted to 3,34,300 as 150 more people tested positive for theinfection, while one fresh fatality pushed the state'scoronavirus death toll to 1,905, a health department officialsaid.

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said during the day, ''Odishahas emerged as a leading state in the vaccination drive with1.5 lakh total vaccinated beneficiaries and 3452.81vaccinations per million populace''.

With all necessary arrangements made in time, the stategovernment has managed the vaccination process efficiently sofar, Patnaik said.

Meanwhile, the state saw recovery of as many as 182 morepatients from the highly infectious disease, taking the countof COVID-19 cured persons to 3,31,144, which is 99.05 per centof the caseload.

Odisha's case fatality ratio (CFR) stands at 0.56 percent, the health department official said.

The new positive cases were detected in 24 of the state's30 districts, with 89 reported from different quarantinecentres, while the remaining 61 are local contact cases.

Sundergarh district reported the highest number of 22 newpositive cases followed by Bargarh (18) and Cuttack (15).

Six other districts - Dhenkanal, Gajapati, Koraput,Malkangiri, Nayagarh and Rayagada, did not register any newpositive cases since Saturday.

Taking to twitter, the Health and Family Welfaredepartment said,''Regret to inform the demise of 74-year-oldfemale COVID positive patient of Sundergarh district.'' Apart from 1,905 fatalities reported so far. A total of53 other COVID-19 positive patients have also died in Odishadue to co-morbidities, it said.

Khurda district, of which the state capital Bhubaneswaris a part, alone accounted for 335 deaths followed by Ganjam(248), Sundergarh (171), Cuttack (141) and Puri (117).

Twenty-five other districts reported fatalities less than100, the health department official said.

Currently, the state has 1,198 active COVID-19 cases,which is 0.35 per cent of the caseload.

Odisha has so far conducted over 75.48 lakh sample testsfor COVID-19 including 22,725 on Saturday.

The state's positivity rate now stands at 4.43 per cent,the data released by the Health and Family Welfare departmentsaid.