The State has recorded a high density of Omicron variant infection in February with around 76% samples of COVID19 infectees contracting the highly-transmissible variant. With this, Omicron has replaced the Delta variant which had triggered havoc last year during the outbreak of the third wave of pandemic, said health experts on Friday.

Meanwhile, the coastal State on Friday logged 1,572 new COVID-19 cases, an increase of around 7% infection than the previous day with Test Positivity Rate (TPR) dropping 2.30% as the State is currently witnessing a gradual slowdown of the disease.

On the other hand, the fatality trajectory is on a steady rise with 20 more succumbing to infection in the last 24 hours. The cumulative death toll in the State now stands at 8,838.

With the latest daily infection, the cumulative infection tally has climbed to 12,74,575, while the State currently has 14,253 active cases. While 309 positive cases are from the 0-18 year age group among the new infectees, the recoveries on Thursday have surpassed the daily cases, marking the steady decline in infection.

A total of 12,51,431 patients have recovered from the disease so far, including 3,279 in the past 24 hours. The State has so far registered 347 Omicron variants.

Khurda district, which includes the state capital Bhubaneswar, continues to be State’s Covid hotspot and reported the highest number of new cases at 233, followed by Cuttack (161) and Sundargarh (113)

All the 30 districts in the State currently have active cases while Khordha with over 2,500 active cases is placed in the red zone. Sundargarh districts with above 1,000 active cases are bracketed in the yellow zone category while the remaining 28 districts figure in the green zone with fewer than 1,000 active cases.

The State’s recovery rate currently stands at 98.18% while active cases account for 1.11% of total positive cases registered in the State.

The State’s share is 3.41% in the country’s confirmed virus caseload while the active cases are 0.86% of India’s total active cases. The number of cured patients accounts for 3.55% of the country’s total recovery. Odisha has so far reported 1.82% of the country’s Coronavirus deaths.

The State’s health authorities have so far administered 5,86,93,522 COVID-19 vaccine doses while 2,56,50,091 people out of 3.09 crore eligible adult population are fully vaccinated. A total of 6,68,370 have so far received booster or precaution dose so far. Around 83% of the eligible population has so far received both the doses of vaccine.