
Bhubaneswar, Feb 23 (UNI) The daily covid load in Odisha further dropped to 342 in the past 24 hours taking the cumulative tally in the state to 12,83,639, the health department said on Wednesday. The daily test positivity rate in the state also dipped to 0.58 per cent while the covid fatalities rose to 9045 with nine more succumbing to the virus in the past 24 hours. Official sources said 968 covid patients were cured on Tuesday taking the total recoveries in the state to 12,70,221. The active cases further declined to 4320. Health and Family Welfare department sources said out of 342 new infections,196 were reported from quarantine centres and 146 as local contact cases. As many as 83 positive cases were detected in the age group of 0 to 18 years. In the past 24 hours, 18 of the total 30 districts in the state reported single-digit covid cases. Sundargarh district has the highest number of 39 positive cases followed by Khordha ( 32), Gajapati ( 29) and Cuttack ( 20). These four districts together accounted for 35 per cent of the total new cases in the state. As far as the active cases are concerned, Khordha has the highest number of 585 cases followed by Sundargarh (542), Sambalpur (344) and Jajpur (332). These four districts have contributed 41.7percent of the total active cases in the state.