Bhubaneswar: Following a brief period of decline in active Covid-19 cases in Odisha, the state reported 542 new infections from more than 7,571 samples tested and one more death due to the virus in the last 24 hours. This is reported to be the highest daily caseload of Covid-19 in the state in over eight months.
While Odisha now has 3,270 active Covid-19 cases, the test positivity rate in the state stands at 7.1%, figures released by the Odisha Health Department reveal.
On Monday and Tuesday, Odisha logged 392 and 393 new Covid-19 cases respectively.
The surge in Covid-19 cases is fuelled by Omicron sub-variant XBB.1.16 while a new sub-lineage XXB.2.3 with additional mutations has been detected in the state. Among the 77 samples tested at the Institute of Life Sciences and Regional Medical Research Centre, one case of the latest sub-variant XBB.2.3 and two cases of additional mutation XBB.2.3.2 were detected.
In the past week, Odisha recorded nearly 3,000 new infections while four people have so far.
Meanwhile, India recorded 9,629 Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours, 44 per cent more than Tuesday. A total of 19 patients across the country succumbed to the viral infection during the period.
