26 test positive for COVID-19 in Odisha

Bhubaneswar, May 8 () As many as 26 people, who had recently returned from Surat, tested positive for COVID-19 in Odisha on Friday, taking the total number of cases in the state to 245, a health department official said.

Of the fresh cases, 19 are from Ganjam, five fromKendrapara and two from Bhadrak districts.

"These people had come from Surat and were inquarantine centres. They were symptomatic," the official said.

With these new patients, the number of cases in Ganjam has gone up to 47 since May 2, when the district had reported its first case, he said.

The tally for Bhadrak now stands at 23, whileKendrapara has a total 8 cases, the official said.

Migrant workers from Odisha, who were stranded in Gujarat's Surat city due to the lockdown, have been returning to the eastern state in droves by buses and trains after the Centre allowed their movement.

Nearly three lakh Odia workers mostly from Ganjamdistrict are engaged in diamond cutting, textiles and otherworks in Surat.

The state health department had on Thursday conducted 2,460 tests for coronavirus, he said.

Odisha has so far tested 52,974 samples.

With these new patients, the number of active casesnow stands at 181, while 62 patients have so far recovered from the disease. Two persons from Bhubaneswar have died of the infection.

Jajpur district has reported the maximum number ofcases at 55, followed by Bhubaneswar in Khurda district 50, Ganjam 47, Balasore 27, Bhadrak 23, Sundergarh 12, Kendrapara 8, Jagatsinghpur 5 and Mayurbhanj 4.

Two cases each have been detected in Cuttack,Jharsuguda, Bolangir, Keonjhar and Kalahandi, and one each in Puri, Dhenkanal, Deogarh and Koraput districts.

The state had on Thursday reported 34 new cases.

Over 100 cases have been reported in the last eightdays, the official said. AAM BDC DVDV