Bhubaneswar: Eight people tested positive for COVID-19 in Odisha's Jajpur district on Saturday, taking the total number of cases in the state to 157.
"With 56 people cured of the disease and one death, the number of active cases in the state now stands at 100. Till Friday, a total of 36,593 samples were tested." officials said.
All the eight newly detected patients, which include two women, have a travel history to Kolkata in West Bengal, officials said, adding they were kept in a quarantine centre and had no symptoms of coronavirus.
"Their samples were tested in view their travel history," the officials said.
"With these new instances of the infection, the number of COVID-19 cases has increased to 47 in Jajpur district which has emerged as the new coronavirus hotspot of Odisha. Contact-tracing and follow-up action are being done," officials of the Information and Public Relations department said
"Jajpur is in red zone and Katikata gram panchayat in the district has emerged as a new hotspot with 21 cases," said Health and Family Welfare Secretary N B Dhal.
Dhal said the surge in the COVID-19 cases in Katikata panchayat was due to blatant violation of quarantine guidelines by people.
"Unfortunately, the residents of the panchayat did not behave responsibly as expected in the fight against COVID-19. Every citizen is a fighter in this war against the deadly virus," he said.
He said residents of the panchayat, who were kept at a quarantine facility or advised home quarantine, did not follow the instructions of health officials and the district administration.
"They moved around freely and infected others. As a result, further increase in cases in the panchayat cannot be ruled out," Dhal said.
Of the total 157 cases in the state, Jajpur reported 48 cases followed by 47 in Bhubaneswar, Balasore at 20, Bhadrak at 19, Sundergarh at 10, Kendrapara, Bolangir and Kalahandi districts two each, while Koraput, Jharsuguda, Deogarh, Keonjhar, Cuttack, Dhenkanal and Puri have reported one case each.
On the state's preparedness against coronavirus, Dhal informed that though around 2.500 samples are presently being tested every day, efforts are on to increase the number by four to five fold in the coming days.
(PTI REPORT)
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