According to the data furnished by the Health Department, as many as 49 cases have been detected among 0-18-year-olds.
Similarly, 276 positives have been reported from quarantine while 194 are local contacts.
Khordha remained the worst-hit region in terms of reporting new infections as the district recorded 221 cases in the last 24 hours.
With 94, Cuttack reported the second highest number of cases.
The active cases zoomed past 2487 after 218 fresh recoveries. Likewise, the cumulative positive tally in the state jumped to 1292416.
On the other hand, India reported 18,815 fresh cases, 15,899 recoveries, and 38 deaths in the last 24 hours. The active cases surged to 1,22,335 while the daily positivity rate rose to 4.96%.
The Headmaster of the Capital High School in Bhubaneswar, Jitendra Nayak informed about the detection of the Covid cases in the educational institute.
Samples from at least 372 students from the school were taken for Covid testing and two of them showed traces of the SARS-CoV-2, Nayak told reporters today.
The BMC had conducted antigen tests on all students and two of them were found positive. They have been asked to remain in isolation.
The school campus, all classrooms have been sanitised properly to prevent any further outbreak of the virus cases. Strict protocols like wearing of masks, using sanitisers are being duly followed at the institute. Classes are continuing under due guidelines, said Nayak.
Similarly, more than 10 teachers of Kendriya Vidyalaya-1 have been found infected with the virus. As per the school authorities, the samples were taken from the teachers for RT-PCR test after some of them exhibited symptoms of Covid.
In the last few weeks, several schools and other educational institutions have reported Covid cases in Odisha.
Dozens of students at a junior residential college in Dhenkanal and a govt girls' high school in Sundargarh were tested positive for the virus three days ago.
All temples, mutts, mosques, and churches will remain closed for devotees till May 15 due to pandemic crisis, Puri sub-collector Bhabataran Sahoo said.
However, all the daily rituals will be conducted as usual at the places of worship with the help of priests, he added.
The next decision on reopening of the religious places will be taken after May 15 keeping in view the Covid-19 situation.
Earlier on Saturday, SJTA chief administrator Krishan Kumar announced to close the shrine for the devotees following a virtual meeting Chhattisha Nijoga, temple officials, Puri Collector and SP.
The temple chief administrator said the spread of the virus among servitors and family members would be detrimental to the upcoming major festivals of Lord Jagannath like Chandan Jatra, Snana Jatra, Aksjya Tritiya. So, the temple should remain out of bounds for the pilgrims.
Similarly, the district administration had also banned Swargadwar for outsiders due to mounting cases of Covid-19. Dead bodies from the district only would be allowed for cremation only in the case of non-covid deaths.
The relatives will have to produce relevant documents before cremation, the Sub-collector said. Similar restrictions have also been imposed in the matter of Asthi Visarjan (Ash Immersion) in Mahodadhi.
Acharya Harihar Regional Cancer Centre on Saturday reported 38 more Covid-19 cases while SCB Hospital too saw a spike of 6 new cases. Earlier on Thursday, as many as 55 positive cases were reported from AHRCC while 11 cases were detected from SCB.
ARHCC witnessed its first Covid case on June 24 when a patient from Ganjam district admitted at the hospital tested positive for the virus. Later two nurses who had come in contact with him were also found infected with Covid on June 30.
A day after, as many as six four patients, one attendant and staff of an Aahar centre inside the AHRCC tested positive for COVID-19.
Meanwhile, view of the explosion of Covid numbers, Cuttack district administration today announced to enforce shut down in the region till July 8.
Senior CMC Officials informed that all the non-essential shops will remain closed and non-essential travel will be completely prohibited. The order will come to effect from today.
Earlier in the day, CMC authorities informed that out of the 13 new COVID-19 cases reported from Cuttack district, 11 were from CMC area. The COVID-19 tally in Cuttack city has reached 116 including 92 active cases.
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Citing such apprehension, former Director of Bhubaneswar AIIMS, Dr. Ashok Mohapatra said on Monday that if appropriate protocols are not followed, cases of the daily virus infections in the State may jump beyond 10000 in next few months.
Speaking to newsmen, the renowned neurosurgeon said that the fatality rate in the second wave of the virus pandemic is comparatively lower from the first phase but the rate of positivity is certainly higher.
We are also not sure about how many cases will the pandemic hit during the peak but it is certain that it will be much more than the present trend of 1.6 lakh in the country because the maximum cases are limited to only a handful of States. So once outbreak spreads to other States, the spike will be monumental, said Mohapatra.
Coming to state-wise data, if Chhattisgarh having less population than Odisha has started reporting 10 to 12 thousand cases each day, when the situation starts exploding in our State, the cases might also post a similar trend,” he said.
The senior doctor said people are also exhibiting some new symptoms during this time around especially redness in eyes, digestive troubles, vomiting, diarrohea, loss of appetite apart from cold, cough, fever and pneumonia.
Mohapatra cautioned against false assurance that low mortality should be taken for granted and as an excuse to violate mask guidelines. Reports are saying most people even in Odisha are not wearing mask because of carelessness and thought process like diseases for example cholera or even accidents are claiming more lives than Covid. But this mentality is dangerous.
“..with Covid -19 pandemic is increasing day by day in the state..the district authorities are requested to remain in readiness for functionalisation of Dedicated Covid Care Centers as and when required following the MoHFW as well as the State guidelines or advisories issued from time to time,” the ACS of Health department wrote in a letter to all district collectors, municipal commissioners, all CDMs and PHOs.
The government listed out the following instructions for activating the DCCC.
Meanwhile, State Special Relief Commissioner Pradip Jena clarified to the media that there is no provision for imposing lockdown, shutdown, or day curfew restrictions in the State as of now.
Below mentioned are the revised guidelines issued by the government.
The State has so far reported 335282 positive cases out of which 332377 patients have recovered from the disease. The cumulative figures of sample testing stand at 7774477.
As per the Health department, a total of 71 fresh cases of novel-Coronavirus have been reported from various districts of the State on Tuesday. Apart from Sundargarh which has witnessed 11 new cases, 17 other districts have reported single digit positives.
Happy to share that after a spirited fight of 8 months, Odisha's active cases have fallen below 1000 for the first time since 2nd June 2020. We salute the continuing efforts of our valiant Covid Warriors 🙏🏼
— H & FW Dept Odisha (@HFWOdisha) February 3, 2021
The Health department has informed that there has been no Covid deaths in the State in the past one week as the toll continues to stand at 1906. The last fatality was reported from Sundargarh district on January 25. A total of 53 other Covid-19 patients have died due to co-morbidities.
Health department Director Bijay Panigrahy on Wednesday said that Covid vaccines have been administered to a total of 208205 people. Around 62% of registered Corona warriors have received vaccine shots.
The first phase of Covid vaccination will be completed by February 10. Similarly, the vaccine recipients will be administered second doses from February 15, Panigrahy informed.
Additional Chief Secretary to the Health Department, PK Mohapatra has shot off a letter to the collectors, DMs and Municipal Commissioners in the State to remain alert with full preparedness measures at airports and railway stations to prevent the spread due to upsurge of Covid infection in some States.
The government has asked the authorities to enhance surveillance on passengers disembarking at airports, railway stations coming from or through the States of Maharashtra, Kerala, Telangana, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Punjab, Delhi, Chandigarh, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.
As per the instructions, people coming from the aforementioned States/UTs will be screened by thermal screening and those found having symptoms or fever will be tested by Rapid Antigen Test on site. If found positive, they will be put in isolation and treated as per the protocol.
ACS Mohapatra has directed officials to make necessary arrangements for thermal screening of all passengers and on-site RAT testing of symptomatic passengers disembarking from the trains/flights arriving from the identified high risk States to prevent spread of Covid-19.