By Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, August 8, 2020: The coronavirus tally in Odisha has shot up to 44,193 with death toll pegged at 259, while the recovery of 1,544 patients on Saturday took the number of those cured to 30,242, which is 68.42 per cent of the total caseload.

On Saturday, there were 1,643 fresh infections, health department sources said. Twelve persons succumbed to the contagion during the day to take the toll to 259, officials added.

Of the fresh fatalities two each were reported from Ganjam, Kandhamal, Keonjhar and Khurda, while one each from Balasore, Bargarh, Gajapati and Sundargarh districts, sources added.

Of the 259 COVID-19 deaths reported in the state so far, Ganjam, which is the worst-hit district, accounted for 125, followed by Khurda at 33, Sundargarh 17, Gajapati 16, Cuttack 11 and Rayagada 10, the official said.

The 1,643 new positive cases were detected in 28 of the state’s 30 districts. Of them, 1,018 were reported from different quarantine centres, while 625 were found through the contact tracing exercise, he said.

The districts reporting high numbers of fresh cases include Ganjam (274), Khurda (274), Rayagada (136) and Sundargarh (108).

The number of active cases in the state currently stands at 13,644, which is 30.87 per cent of the total caseload against Fridays rate of 31.86 per cent. As many as 30,244 patients have so far recovered from the disease. The rate of increase in positive cases which was around 60 per cent earlier, was now 20 per cent.

Khurda district, of which Bhubaneswar city is a part, has the highest active coronavirus cases at 3,041, followed by Ganjam at 2,329, the official said.

Khurda district now houseses the majority of COVID-19 patients. Of the 3,041 active cases in the district, 1383 are in Bhubaneswar city, said Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) commissioner P C Chaudhury.

He said 515 COVID-19 patients were allowed home treatment in Bhubaneswar and 327 of them were cured so far.

Meanwhile, Ganjam district showed a downward trend in new cases and fatalities in the last three days. The district has so far reported 12,633 cases. While sample testing has been ramped up, the rate of positive cases has declined gradually.