Bhubaneswar: Odisha reported more recoveries of COVID-19 patients than new cases on Tuesday as 3,714 people were cured of the disease while 3,645 got infected with it, a health department official said.
The number of recoveries in the state is now 1,25,738, which is 79.25 per cent of the total coronavirus caseload of 1,58,650.
The toll due to the contagion rose to 645 with eight more people succumbing to the infection – three in Cuttack and one each in Boudh, Kandhamal, Rayagada, Sambalpur and Subarnapur during the day, he said.
Total 53 COVID-19 patients in the state have died due to comorbidities, according to the official.
“Today, the number of recoveiesy (3,714) is more than the detection of new positive cases (3,645),” the official said.
The case fatality rate has declined to 0.40 per cent from 0.47 per cent on September 1, the data released by the department said.
Odisha currently has 32,214 active cases against Monday’s 35,928 cases, it said.
Of the 3,645 new cases, 2,151 were reported from various quarantine centres and 1,494 were detected during contact tracing.
Khurda district, of which state capital Bhubaneswar is a part, reported the maximum number of fresh cases at 517, followed by Cuttack at 357 and Puri at 246, the official said.
BJD MLA from Pipili in Puri district, Pradeep Maharathy, is among the fresh cases on Tuesday. He asked people who recently came in touch with him to isolate themselves and undergo tests, if necessary.
As many as 25.16 lakh samples have been tested for COVID-19 in the coastal state so far, including 43,940 on Monday.
Meanwhile, the health and family welfare department has asked the district authorities to strengthen critical care facilities at the local level in order to reduce the load on COVID-19 hospitals in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack.
The direction came in wake of a surge of positive cases in the twin cities.
The two cities together house as many as 6,761 active cases of the state’s total 32,214 cases. “Bhubaneswar and Cuttack carry 20.98 per cent load of active cases,” the official said.
He said that the COVID-19 patients in the twin cities face a shortage of hospital beds as they are already occupied by the patients from other districts.
“About 40 per cent of the COVID-19 hospital beds in the rest of the state remain vacant while there is crowding in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack,” the official said.