Odisha reports 122 new COVID-19 cases, one more fatality

Odisha reports 122 new COVID-19 cases, one more fatality
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Bhubaneswar: Odisha's COVID-19 caseload mounted to 3,33,566 on Tuesday as 122 more people tested positive for the infection, while one fresh fatality pushed the death toll to 1,902, a health department official said.

The state received the second consignment of Covishield vaccine during the day, the official said.

Of the 122 new cases, 72 were reported from various quarantine centres and 50 detected during contact tracing, he said.

Sundargarh district recorded the highest number of new cases at 26, followed by Sambalpur (23) and Puri (17).

Twelve districts did not register any new case since Monday, he said, adding that the fresh fatality was reported from Bargarh disrict.

The state during the day also reported recovery of 250 patients taking the total number of COVID-19 cured persons to 3,30,051, which is 98.94 per cent of the caseload.

Odisha's case fatality ratio (CFR) also stands at 0.57 per cent, he said.

Meanwhile, the state government received the second consignment of 28 packets comprising 3,34,500 doses of Covisheild vaccines. The vaccines were sent to state vaccine centre amid tight security.

As many as 14,291 beneficiaries on Tuesday received the vaccine at 182 session sites across the state. About 88 per cent of beneficiaries had already received the shot by 6 pm, an official said, adding that five cases of vaccine side effects were reported during the day.

The state government appealed to people not to pay heed to rumours about COVID-19 vaccines.

"COVID-19 vaccines are approved by the government, completely safe & have undergone various trials," the Health and Family Welfare department said on Twitter.

"Those who were not able to turn up for vaccination on the designated dates will receive the shots in the next phase for free," Director Health and vaccine in-charge Bijay Panigrahi said.

Odisha now has 1,560 active cases, which is 0.46 per cent of the caseload.

The state has conducted over 74.26 lakh sample tests, including 23,553 on Monday, and the positivity rate stands at 4.49 per cent.

Meanwhile, a section of healthcare professionals under the aegis of Odisha State Male and Female Multipurpose Health Workers' and Supervisors' United Association had announced that they would not take COVID-19 vaccine as a mark of protest against the state government's attitude in fulfilling their two demands - cadre restructuring and designation change.

On the protest by the health workers, the official said they would not be given vaccines for free.