Odisha: 2 more deaths take COVID-19 toll to 17; 167 fresh cases detected

Bhubaneswar, Jun 23 () Two more people succumbed to COVID-19 in Odisha, taking the death toll due to the contagion to 17 in the state, while 167 fresh cases increased the infection tally to 5,470, a health department official said on Tuesday.

The two deaths were reported from Cuttack district.

"Regret to report the demise of two COVID positive cases of Cuttack while under treatment in hospitals. Both were males. One was 71-year-old and the age of the other was 53 years," the official said.

Both suffered from pre-existing ailments.

Meanwhile, an 80-year-old COVID-19 patient from Cuttack, who was suffering from "intestinal obstruction with sepsis and multiple organ dysfunction syndrome", also died in a hospital.

"The reason of his death was non-COVID," the official said.

Of the fresh cases, 150 are from different quarantine centres where returnees are lodged for preliminary observation, while 17 others were detected with the infection during the contact-tracing exercises, he said.

Gajapati topped the list of new infections with 41 cases, followed by Ganjam at 30.

The number of active COVID-19 cases in the state now stands at 1,583, while 3,863 patients have recovered from the disease.

The state health department on Monday conducted 3,496 tests, the official said. AAM BDC DV DV