The cumulative COVID-19 infection in the 0-18 years of unvaccinated children since the past ten days has surpassed the 1,000 marks in Odisha to reach 1,,049 in a major cause of concern for State’s COVID managers.

According to the COVID count released by the State health and family welfare department, a total of 8,101 persons have tested positive for COVID­19 while 1,049 persons in 0­18 years have been found to be infected since 15 August. The rate of infection among children is currently on a higher side in comparison to the past months as infected children account for 12.94% of total positive cases in the last ten days.

Around 1.35 crore children and adolescents need to be vaccinated in the State, according to official sources.

“A guideline for vaccination of children is yet to be released by the Centre. It will not be appropriate to say when the process will start in Odisha. It depends on the Centre”, Directorate of Medical Education and Training chief CBK Mohanty said.

Meanwhile, the coastal State on Monday logged 761 COVID-19 fresh cases including 101 children contracting an infection at 1.25% Test Positivity Rate (TPR) in the last 24 hours with the tally mounting up to 10,01,698, while the cumulative death toll reached 7,426 with 68 fresh fatalities, according to State’s COVID dashboard portal.

8,101 persons have tested positive for COVID­19 while 1,049 persons in 0­18 years have been found to be infected. Infection among children accounts for 12.94%

The coastal state now has 8,917 active cases, and 9,85,302 patients have so far recovered from the disease, including 1,078 in the last 24 hours.

The Khordha district reported the highest number of 289 new infections followed by Cuttack 117 and Balasore 52.

The Cuttack district reported the highest 17 deaths followed by 15 from Jagatsinghpur, nine from Dhenkanal, eight from Khurda, six from Jajpur, four from Kendrapara, three from Balasore, two from Puri, and one each from Bhadrak, Jharsuguda, Keonjhar, and Rayagada.

More than 62% of the total death toll has been recorded in the State in the past 84 days. As many as 4,670 Covid patients have succumbed to infection since 31 May at a daily average of over 55 deaths while the cumulative death toll currently stood at 7,426. The surge in deaths had begun to emerge after the launch of the district-level audit for death recount.

Odisha has thus far conducted over 1.74 crore sample tests, taking into account 60,791 clinical examinations on Sunday. The cumulative positivity rate is at 5.72 percent and the case fatality rate is at 0.74 percent.

The State’s recovery rate currently stands at 98.36% while active cases account for 0.89% 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 2.72% of India’s total active cases. The number of cured patients accounts for 3.11% of the country’s total recovery. Odisha has so far reported 1.71% of the country’s Coronavirus deaths.