Odisha on Wednesday reported 11,607 new COVID-19 cases including 991 in the 0-18 age group, as the Test Positivity Rate (TPR) on a rising trajectory soared t0 16.70% in the last 24 hours.

The cumulative fatality toll has gone up to 8,494 as six more patients- two from Khurda district and one each from Bhadrak, Cuttack, Jagatsinghpur and Jharsuguda- succumbed to the disease.

While 69,502 samples were tested in the last 24 hours, the test positivity rate (TPR) has jumped to 16.70 percent from 15.61 percent recorded the previous day, said health and family welfare department officials on Wednesday.

The disconcerting feature of today’s Covid trajectory lies in the fact that the test positivity rate is on an upswing on a daily basis.

While as many as 14 districts have reported TPR in excess of 10%, Sundargarh and Khodha districts have logged a high positivity of 36.06% and 31.69%% respectively.

Khurda district, where Bhubaneswar is located, reported nearly 38% of the new cases at 4,347, followed by Sundargarh at 1,219, Cuttack at 898 and Sambalpur at 390.

As many as 991 children were among the new patients. The daily cases jumped by more than 64 percent from 7,071 a week ago. The state had logged 10,489 cases on Tuesday.

The active cases surged to 84,770, including 29,745 in Khurda that is in the red zone of districts where current cases are over 2,500. Sundargarh, Sambalpur, Cuttack, Balasore and Mayurbhanj are also on the list.

The case tally climbed to 11,67,094 while 10,73,777 patients, including 7,745 on Tuesday, have recovered from the disease.

The State’s recovery rate currently stands at 92% while active cases account for 7.26% of total positive cases registered in the State.

The State’s share is 3.12% in the country’s confirmed virus caseload while the active cases are 45.12% of India’s total active cases. The number of cured patients accounts for 3.05% of the country’s total recovery. Odisha has so far reported 1.75% of the country’s Coronavirus deaths.

The state’s health authorities have so far administered 5,46,77,871 COVID-19 vaccine doses while 2,30,91,288 people out of 3.09 crore eligible adult population are fully vaccinated. A total of 2,66,592 have so far received booster or precaution doses so far. Over 74% of the eligible population has so far received both doses of vaccine.