COVID-19 death toll in Odisha touches 10; total cases 3,498
Bhubaneswar, Jun 12 () The COVID-19 death toll in Odisha rose to 10 on Friday with one more patient from Ganjam district succumbing to the disease, while 112 new instances of the infection took the total tally of cases in the state to 3,498, the health department said.
The new patients included 21 personnel of disaster response teams -- NDRF, ODRAF and Fire Service -- who had returned to Odisha after restoration work in cyclone-ravaged West Bengal, it said.
With this, the number of disaster response personnel infected with COVID-19 increased to 136, an official said.
At least 120 patients were cured of COVID-19 in the state on Friday taking the total number of recoveries to 2,474. The recovery rate in Odisha stood at 70.72 per cent, he said.
The health and family welfare department, in a statement, said a 55-year-old man from Ganjam who had tested positive for COVID-19 died of "acute respiratory distress syndrome" while undergoing treatment at a hospital.
So far, Ganjam district has reported five deaths, followed by four in Khurda and one in Cuttack.
Apart from the 10 patients who succumbed to COVID-19, three others have also died, but those were due to reasons not related to the virus, the official said.
The state had reported its first coronavirus-related death on April 6, the official said and claimed the fatality rate in Odisha stood at 0.28 per cent, which is the lowest in the country.
Among the 112 new cases reported from 18 districts, 107 were from quarantine centres where people returning from different states have been lodged while five others were reported from among the locals.
Puri district reported the highest 15 new cases, followed by eight from Khurda and seven from Mayurbhanj.
In Malkangiri district, a policeman on duty at the border with Chhattisgarh also tested COVID-19 positive. The Malkangiri district administration has declared the police station at Motu as containment zone and all staff, including the inspector-in-charge of the station, have been put under home quarantine.
A woman employee of a private hospital in Bhubaneswar also tested positive for COVID-19.
With new cases and fresh recoveries, there are 1,011 active cases in Odisha, which is 28.90 per cent of the total cases reported so far. The state on Thursday tested 3,833 samples taking the total number of tests to 1,92,576.
Meanwhile, the state government modified its June 1 order on lockdown and allowed eateries along national and state highways to open but for providing takeaways during night curfew and weekend shutdowns.
The order issued by the Special Relief Commissioners office also said that procurement of paddy, groundnut and pluses, and delivery of rice have been allowed during the weekend shutdown being imposed in 11 districts during June. AAM RG NSD