Bhubaneswar: With COVID-19 spreading its tentacles far and wide, lawmakers in Odisha continue to get infected with the virus. So far, over 15 MLAs have tested positive for the novel coronavirus and the latest addition to the list is BJD MLA from Laxmipur, Prabhu Jani.
According to sources, Jani tested positive for the virus on Saturday and urged people who had come in contact with him to test themselves.
In July, BJP MLA from Nilgiri, Sukanta Kumar Nayak, became the first legislator in the coastal State to test positive for the disease.
After him, BJD MLAs Soumya Ranjan Patnaik, Bishnubrata Routray, Susant Rout, Ananta Narayan Jena, Bikram Panda, Byomakesh Ray, Debi Prasad Mishra, Pritam Padhi, Sanjib Mallick, Sunanda Das, Srikant Sahu, Sudhanshu Shekhar Parida, Prasanta Muduli , Prasant Behera and Bhagirathi Sethy tested positive for the virus.
Ramesh Majhi , BJD MP from Nabarangpur, Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, BJP MP Suresh Pujari from Bargarh and BJD MP Manjulata Mandal from Bhadrak were also diagnosed with the disease.
On the other hand, the COVID-19 death toll in Odisha on Saturday increased to 538 with seven more deaths while the cumulative caseload surged to 1,20,221 with the detection of 3,543 new cases.
According to the Health and Family Welfare department, Khordha reported two deaths, while Bolangir, Cuttack, Ganjam, Malkangiri and Sundergarh reported one death each.
(Edited By Pradeep Singh)
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