As many as 67 fresh COVID-19 fatalities reported on Saturday pushed Odisha’s coronavirus death toll to 4,992 while the state reported 2,182 fresh infections at 2.98% Test Positivity Rate (TPR).

Besides the dipping positive cases, the TPR remained below 3% for the fourth day in a row. The rising trajectory of the death toll however continues to remain a major area of concern for State’s COVID managers.

Over 44% of the total death toll has been recorded in the State in the past 47 days. As many as 2,238 Covid patients have succumbed to infection since 31 May at a daily average of over 47 deaths. The surge in deaths had begun to emerge after the State government began the district-level audit for death recount.

Of the 30 districts in the State, Khordha continues to be the epicenter of COVID infections reporting the highest daily rise in infection with 510 cases followed by Cuttack district (308) and Jajpur (175).

The Khordha district also recorded the highest fatalities at 25, followed by eight from Ganjam, seven from Sundargarh, six each from Puri and Mayurbhanj, four from Bargarh, three from Nayagarh, and one each from Angul, Bhadrak, Boudh Gajapati, Jagatsinghpur, Jajpur, Kalahandi and Kandhamal.

“This list does not reflect deaths occurring on a particular day. It gives details of past deaths for which the death audit process has been duly completed and the cause of death has been identified as due to COVID -19,” the Health Department tweeted.

Fifty-three coronavirus patients have died due to comorbidities to date.

The state now has 21,540 active cases, while 9,25,526 people have recovered from the disease to date, including 2,317 on Friday.

Odisha has tested over 1.49 crore samples for COVID-19 thus far, including 73,027 on Friday. The overall positivity rate in the State currently stands at 6.37 percent.

The State’s recovery rate currently stands at 97.20% while active cases account for 2.58% of total positive cases registered in the State.

The State’s share is 3.07% in the country’s confirmed virus caseload while the active cases are 5.07% of India’s total active cases. The number of cured patients accounts for 3.07% of the country’s total recovery. Odisha has so far reported 1.21% of the country’s Coronavirus deaths.

Currently, Khordha and Cuttack districts, which account for 4,790 and 2,950 active cases respectively, are tagged as COVID red zones with TPR exceeding 5%.