Odisha reports 63 new COVID-19 cases, total rises to 1,723

Sixty-three more people have tested positive for COVID-19 in Odisha, taking the total in the state to 1,723, a Health Department official said here on Friday.

Of the fresh cases, 61 had recently returned to the state from various parts of the country and were in different quarantine centres across districts, while two others were detected with the infection as a result of contact-tracing exercises, he said.

The new cases were reported from 15 districts.

The maximum of 12 fresh cases were found in Khurda, followed by 11 in Jagatsinghpur, nine in Dhenkanal, seven in Nayagarh, six in Bolangir and four in Ganjan districts.

Three cases each were reported in Balasore and Cuttack, two in Sundergarh and one each in Puri, Mayurbhanj, Sambalpur, Koraput, Jharsuguda and Nabarangpur.

The number of active cases in the state now stands at 827, and 887 patients have so far recovered from the disease while seven people have died.

"The government has reports of two more deaths, but they died of non-COVID reasons," a Health Department official said.

The department on Thursday conducted 4,259 tests. The total number of samples tested in Odisha has increased to 1,43,570, the official said.

With 398 patients, Ganjam tops the list of districts affected by the coronavirus outbreak, followed by Jajpur with 253, Balasore with 142, Khurda with 122 and Bhadrak with 106 cases.