Odisha on Saturday registered 1,578 fresh COVID-19 cases at 2.18% Test Positivity Rate (TPR) raising the tally to 9,77,268, while the death count mounted to 5,902 with 68 more fatalities, according to the State government’s COVID dashboard portal updated at 8.33 am.

The coastal state now has 16,384 active cases and 9,54,929 patients have recovered from the disease, including 1,841 in the last 24 hours.

The Khordha district reported a maximum of 436 fresh infections, followed by Cuttack (212) and Jagatsinghpur (113).

Currently, Khordha is the only district in the State which has been tagged in the COVID Red Zone category with 4,614 active cases while the remaining 29 districts come under either the yellow or green zone.

Of the fresh fatalities, 8 are from Angul followed by 7 each from Khurda (4 in Bhubaneswar) and Ganjam, 5 each from Balasore and Puri, 4 each from Mayurbhanj and Cuttack, 3 each from Bargarh, Balangir, Kendrapada, Keonjhar and Nayagarh, 2 each from Bhadrak, Jagatsinghpur, Kalahandi, Sambalpur and Nabarangpur and one each from Boudh, Jajpur, and Kandhamal.

The details of past deaths for which an audit process has been done and the cause of fatality was confirmed as COVID-19, the health authorities said while clarifying the rising death toll.

Over 53% of the total death toll has been recorded in the State in the past 61 days, thus indicating the disturbing fact of the doubling of the cumulative fatalities. As many as 3,148 Covid patients have succumbed to infection since 31 May at a daily average of over 51 deaths while the cumulative death toll currently stood at 5,902. The surge in deaths had begun to emerge after the launch of the district-level audit for death recount.

Odisha has so far conducted almost 1.59 crore sample tests, including 72,233 in the past 24 hours. The daily test positivity rate stands at 2.18 percent while the cumulative positivity of the samples tested stood at 6.12%.

The State’s recovery rate currently stands at 97.71% while active cases account for 1.67% of total positive cases registered in the State.

The State’s share is 3.09% in the country’s confirmed virus caseload while the active cases are 4.07% of India’s total active cases. The number of cured patients accounts for 3.1% of the country’s total recovery. Odisha has so far reported 1.39% of the country’s Coronavirus deaths.