Covid-19 continues to rise in Odisha, tally reaches 245

State I&PR department sources today said out of 26 new COVID cases detected today, 19 positive cases were reported in Ganjam, five in Kendrapara district and two from Bhadrak.

All of them , sources said, are males and had recently returned from Surat. They were put in institutional quarantine by the state government on their arrival in the state.

Ganjam, which was Green Zone till recently, has shown a steep rise in the covid positive cases after the arrival of migrants from Surat by trains and buses as per the request of the state government.

Official sources said so far 47 people , all Surat returnees, have tested covid positive and among the total 245 covid cases reported so far in the state, as many as 63 are Surat returnees.

The state government had already declared Ganjam district as Red Zone and imposed strict restriction, in and around the quarantine centres in the district to prevent further spread of coronavirus.

Similarly ,all five new cases in Kendrapara were also Surat returnees and they belonged to Sanjaia village in Patamundai block. They were in the quarantine centre since their arrival in the district on May 3.

Kendrapada Collector Samarth Verma said all the five tested positive were sent to Aswani Covid Hospital in Cuttack.

With the five new cases, the Kendrpara district had so far reported 8 positive cases, two of whom have already been cured and discharged from the hospital. The earlier three cases reported from the district had all returned from West Bengal returnees.

In Bhadrak district which had also witnessed a sharp rise in the Covid cases among the West Bengal returnees.

The two fresh COVID19 cases detected today in the district belonged to Dhamnagar and Basudevpur blocks. Both of them had recently returned from Surat and are in institutional quarantine centre.

The Bhadrak district which has been categorized as Red Zone has so far reported 23 positive cases out of which 12 have already been cured and discharged from the hospital.

The Covid positive cases among the Surat returnees which was initially confined to Ganjam district only, has now spread to Mayurbhanj,Cuttack, Jagatsinghpur, ,Balasore and Kendrapara districts.

Thousands of Surat returnees have come to Odisha by as many as 15 special trains and 283 buses.

However, the government, yesterday, cancelled three special trains,scheduled to start journey today carrying migrant workers from Surat after Odisha High court while hearing a PIL, directed the state government to allow only covid 19 negative cases to come to the state.

Odisha had so far reported 245 cases of which 62 have been recovered and 181 are under treatment at various covid hospitals.The state had so far reported two covid deaths.