Odisha on Wednesday registered 993 COVID-19 fresh cases in a substantial spike of 37% in the last 24 hours, at 1.43% Test Positivity Rate (TPR) with the tally soaring to 9,97,146, while the cumulative death toll reached 7,086 with 65 fresh fatalities, according to State’s COVID dashboard portal.

Of the freshly infected persons, 138 are children in the age group of 0-18 years. The infected children account for 13.89% of positive cases reported in the last 24 hours.

The Khordha district, comprising state capital Bhubaneswar, continues to be the epicenter of Covid infections in the State with the district reporting more than 42% of positive cases in the last 24 hours.

The coastal state now has 9,536 active cases, and 9,80,471 patients have so far recovered from the disease, including 1,064 in the last 24 hours.

The Khordha district reported the highest number of 419 new infections followed by Cuttack 95, Jajpur 60 and Jagatsinghpur 51.

The Cuttack district reported the highest 15 deaths followed by 11 from Jagatsinghpur, nine from Kendrapara, seven from Dhenkanal, five each from Angul and Balasore, three each from Bhadrak and Mayurbhanj, two from Puri, and one each from Ganjam, Keonjhar, Khurda, Koraput and Nayagarh.

More than 60% of the total death toll has been recorded in the State in the past 79 days. As many as 4,330 Covid patients have succumbed to infection since 31 May at a daily average of over 54 deaths while the cumulative death toll currently stood at 7,086. The surge in deaths had begun to emerge after the launch of the district-level audit for death recount.

Khurda continues to be in the red zone with 3,564 active cases, while Cuttack is under the yellow zone with 1,299 active cases. The remaining 28 districts are in the green zone.

Odisha has thus far conducted over 1.71 crore sample tests, taking into account 69,008 clinical examinations on Tuesday. The cumulative positivity rate is at 5.81 percent and the case fatality rate at 0.71 per cent.

The State’s recovery rate currently stands at 98.62% while active cases account for 0.95% 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 2.62% of India’s total active cases. The number of cured patients accounts for 3.12% of the country’s total recovery. Odisha has so far reported 1.64% of the country’s Coronavirus deaths.