BHUBANESWAR: Another 1948 people tested positive for Covid-19 on Thursday even as Puri saw a quantum jump in its test positivity rate (TPR) to 8.67% on the day compared to a weekly average of 3.28 % from July 15 to July 21. As many as 83 tested positive in Puri from among 957 samples tested.
Jayant Panda, the government’s technical adviser on Covid, said though high TPR is something to worry about, it would be wrong to press the panic button on the basis of a single day’s result. “One has to witness the trend for at least a week to draw a conclusion,” Panda said.
As has been the trend in the past two weeks, Khurda (480) and Cuttack (279) account for the bulk (39%) of the fresh Covid infections. While Khurda’s positivity rate was 4.12%, that of Cuttack was 4.22% against the state’s average of 2.45%.
The government, meanwhile, confirmed 67 more deaths, including 13 from Bhubaneswar, raising the state’s virus death toll to 5,308.
The state now has 19,623 active positive cases, which is sixth highest in the country after Kerala (1.28 lakh), Maharashtra (94,000), Tamil Nadu (25,000), Karnataka (24,000) and Andhra Pradesh (23,000).
Meanwhile, Odisha crossed the milestone of administering 1.5 crore doses of Covid vaccines after 2.36 lakh jabs were given on Thursday. While 34.88 lakh people have got both the doses, 1.16 crore have got at least one. The state has vaccinated 11,135 pregnant women so far.
