Lagatar24 Desk
Bhubaneswar, Jan 4: Odisha recorded the highest single-day jump in COVID-19 cases in over three months on Tuesday as 680 more people tested positive, the Health Department said.
The daily positivity rate surged to 1.31 per cent from 0.77 per cent a day ago, while 119 children, or 17.5 per cent of the fresh cases, were infected in the past 24 hours, a bulletin stated.
Khurda district, where Bhubaneswar is located, reported most of the new cases at 263, followed by 69 in Sundargarh and 59 in Cuttack. The infection tally rose to 10,56,660, it said.
The state had logged 424 COVID-19 cases on Monday. On September 22, there were 734 infections.
The toll mounted to 8,464 as a 50-year-old man from Balasore district died. These are confirmed as deaths due to COVID-19 after an audit, the department said.
Fifty-three other COVID-19 patients have died due to comorbidities so far, according to the data.
There are 2,888 active cases, including 1,153 (39.92 per cent) in Khurda — which re-entered the yellow zone where active cases are between 1,001-2,500.
More than 10.45 lakh people have recovered so far, with 146 patients recuperating in the last 24 hours, it said.
The new cases were detected after testing 51,745 samples.
Health Director Bijay Mohapatra said the government was keeping a close watch on the situation.
“We have to be vigilant just like during the first and second waves,” Mohapatra told reporters.
There was no need for stricter restrictions right now, but new guidelines would be issued if required after considering the emerging situation, he added.
Meanwhile, the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) sealed the Deputy Commissioner of Police’s office at Vani Vihar for two days after several COVID-19 cases were detected there.
The office has been declared a containment zone, a senior BMC official said.
