Odisha logs 68 new COVID-19 cases, tally at 3,36,835
Odishas COVID-19 caseloadmounted to 3,36,835 on Wednesday as 68 more people testedpositive for the infection, a health department official said.
Of the new cases, 40 were reported from quarantinecentres and 28 detected during contact tracing.
Khurda district, of which the state capitalBhubaneswar is a part, reported the highest number of freshcases at nine, followed by Sambalpur at seven.
During the day, 90 patients were cured of the disease,taking the total number of recoveries to 3,34,333, which is99.25 per cent of the caseload.
Dhenkanal and Kandhamal districts have turned”coronavirus free” as no active cases exist there, theofficial said.
The COVID-19 death toll remained at 1,914 as no freshfatality due to the infection has been reported since February19.
Fifty-three other COVID-19 patients have succumbed tocomorbidities in the state, he said.
The state currently has 535 active COVID-19 cases,which is 0.15 per cent of the caseload.
The state has so far tested over 82.30 lakh samplesfor COVID-19, including 17,392 on Tuesday, and the positivityrate stands at 4.1 per cent.
The state government has started preparation tocommence vaccination for elderly people from March, theofficial said.
The Centre on Wednesday announced that people over 60years and those above 45 with comorbidities can get theCOVID-19 vaccine from March 1.
Odisha Health and Family Welfare department additionalchief secretary PK Mohapatra, in a letter to the districtcollectors and civic bodies, said all the facilities should beprepared for the COVID-19 vaccination drive.
The authorities are told to complete the preparationwork by February 28.
The health department issued an advisory for thepurpose and said the vaccination sessions should be plannedfor five days a week.
Meanwhile, Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporationcommissioner P C Chaudhury said they have plans to open aCOVID testing centre which will be set up at the Biju PatnaikInternational Airport (BPIA) here.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Federal staff and is auto-published from a syndicated feed.)