The Odisha government on Friday undertook the vaccination of expectant mothers and lactating women while the State’s COVID-19 tally soared to 9,49,929 with 2,070 more people testing positive for the infection at 2.94% Test Positivity Rate (TPR).

So far 10 lakh vaccine-eligible pregnant women and lactating women have been identified by healthcare workers. The vaccination will be carried out in a phased manner. 4 lakh women of these categories will be administered the jabs in the first phase, said Bijay Panigrahi, Director of Family Welfare and State’s Nodal Immunization Officer.

The Auxiliary Nurse and Midwives (ANMs), ASHA workers, and paramedics are on the job to counsel and mobilize them on the scheduled date and time of the vaccination. Steps have been taken up to set up dedicated waiting rooms at all vaccination centres. It is being ensured that vaccine-eligible women of this category don’t have to stand in queue with others. All pregnant women will be observed for 30 minutes for possible adverse side effects following the vaccination, he said.

Pregnant and lactating women can be inoculated with Covid vaccines available in the State any time during their pregnancy period at the nearest government or private vaccination centre after registration on CoWIN or by walk-in registration at the nearest centre; he said adding that the health department will shortly announce the vaccination session schedules in this regard.

Meanwhile, as many as 64 fresh fatalities pushed the state’s coronavirus death toll to 4,925. Besides the dipping positive cases, the TPR remained below 3% for the third day in a row. The rising trajectory of the death toll however continues to remain a major area of concern in the State.

Of the 30 districts in the State, Khordha continues to be the epicenter of COVID infections reporting the highest daily rise in infection with 446 cases followed by Cuttack district (319) and Balasore (176).

The Khordha district reported the highest fatalities at 22 followed by eight from Balasore, seven from Sundargarh, six from Ganjam, two each from Kandhamal and Sambalpur, and one each from Boudh, Kalahandi, Kendrapada, Mayurbhanj, Nuapada, Puri, and Rayagada.

“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 21,742 active cases, while 9,23,209 people have recovered from the disease to date, including 2,563 on Thursday.

Odisha has tested over 1.48 crore samples for COVID-19 thus far, including 70,244 on Thursday. The positivity rate stands at 6.38 percent.

The State’s recovery rate currently stands at 97.18% while active cases account for 2.28% of total positive cases registered in the State.

The State’s share is 3.06% in the country’s confirmed virus caseload while the active cases are 5.12% of India’s total active cases. The number of cured patients accounts for 3.06% of the country’s total recovery. Odisha has so far reported 1.19% of the country’s Coronavirus deaths.

Currently, Khordha and Cuttack districts, which account for 4,785 and 3,092 active cases respectively, are tagged as COVID red zones with TPR exceeding 5%.