By Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, May 14, 2020: With hundreds of migrant workers returning home, mostly from the industrial city of Surat in Gujarat, the number of cases in different districts of Odisha has spiked over the past two weeks and on Thursday, 86 more people tested positive for COVID-19 raising the total count of cases in the state to 624.

So far, three persons have died due to the respiratory disease in the state while the number of active COVID-19 cases in Odisha has gone up to 463.

The number of recoveries in the state rose to 158, with 15 more patients, all from Jajpur district, defeating the deadly disease, officials said adding that Bhubaneswar has recorded the highest number of recoveries, with 45 of the 50 patients in the state capital discharged from hospitals.

As many as 84 of 86 fresh cases had been lodged in quarantine centres following their return from states like Gujarat, West Bengal and Karnataka.

Ganjam district reported the highest number of fresh cases at 42, followed by Jajpur at 17, Kendrapara 13, Bhadrak nine, Khurda three and Sundargarh two, the Information and Public Relations Department said.

A total of 4,394 samples were tested on Wednesday, taking the number of COVID-19 tests conducted in Odisha till now to 77,150, the health department official said.

Ganjam tops the list with 252 cases, followed by Balasore at 90, Jajpur at 88, Khurda at 53, Bhadrak at 40, Sundargarh at 25, Kendrapara at 22 and Angul at 15.

Nine cases have been reported from Mayurbhanj, five in Jagatsinghpur, and four each in Keonjhar, Puri and Boudh districts.

Three people in Cuttack have tested positive for COVID-19; two each in Kalahandi, Jharsuguda and Bolangir districts; and one each in Nayagarh, Koraput, Dhenkanal and Deogarh.

Bhubaneswar has three active cases, while it has recorded two COVID-19 fatalities while Ganjam has the maximum number of active cases in the state at 249. One person has died in the district due to COVID-19.

Of the 30 districts in Odisha, 21 have reported COVID-19 cases.