Odisha on Thursday logged 1,041 COVID-19 fresh cases in the last 24 hours at 1.57% Test Positivity Rate (TPR) with the tally soaring to 9,98,187, while the cumulative death toll reached 7,154 with 68 fresh fatalities, according to State’s COVID dashboard portal.

Of the freshly infected persons, 128 are children in the age group of 0-18 years. The infected children account for 12.29% 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 9,664 active cases, and 9,81,316 patients have so far recovered from the disease, including 845 in the last 24 hours.

The Khordha district reported the highest number of 398 new infections followed by Cuttack 176, Jajpur 56, and Jagatsinghpur 43.

The Cuttack district reported the highest 18 deaths followed by 10 from Jagatsinghpur, seven from Khurda, six from Dhenkanal, five each from Bhadrak and Mayurbhanj, four from Angul, three each from Balasore, Jajpur, Kendrapara, two from Ganjam and one each from Nayagarh and Sundergarh.

More than 61% of the total death toll has been recorded in the State in the past 80 days. As many as 4,398 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 7,154. 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 1.72 crore sample tests, taking into account 66,281 clinical examinations on Tuesday. The cumulative positivity rate is at 5.79 percent and the case fatality rate is at 0.71 percent.

The State’s recovery rate currently stands at 98.30% while active cases account for 0.96% 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 2.69% 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 1.65% of the country’s Coronavirus deaths.