In what sends ominous signs of the peak in Odisha’s 14-month-long tryst with COVID-19 pandemic, the coastal State on Friday reported record-shattering daily virus infection and fatality logging 12,523 positive cases and 27 fatalities, the highest ever single day infection and death toll in the State.

The State reported 10,000-plus positive cases for the tenth day in a row with cumulative caseload climbing to 6,68,422, leaving the COVID managers grappling to put brakes on the 2^nd wave of COVID-19.

With 27 more COVID patients dying, the overall death toll has jumped to 2,430 while the active cases rose to 1,09,438 with the latest spike of virus infection.

The State recorded a spike of 1,025 positive cases at a sizable rise of 8.91 per cent in the last 24 hours while the test positivity rate in the past 24 hours increased from 19.97 per cent to 20.30%.

As many as 1,68,024 virus infections have been reported in the State since 5 May, when lockdown was enforced in the State. Since the past 16 days, 10,501 cases are being reported in the State at a daily average.

Khurda district, of which the state capital Bhubaneswar is a part, reported the highest 1,842 new cases, followed by Cuttack (1084), Angul (930), Sundargarh (715), Puri (568) and Mayurbhanj (546). Only two districts- Gajapati (53) and Malkangiri (73) — reported less than 100 new cases.

Currently, the Khordha district has 15,723 active cases, the highest in the State followed by Cuttack at 9,410.

As per the information posted at the COVID dashboard of Odisha government, 86 percent of the 30 districts are currently in the Red Zone category as the active cases in as many as 26 revenue districts have surpassed 1,000 count. Only four districts- Deogarh, Gajapati, Kandhamal and Malkangiri- come under Yellow Zone with less than 1,000 active cases.

The State’s recovery rate currently stands at 83.25% with 5,56,501  cured of the disease so far. Odisha currently has 1,09,438 active cases, which account for 17.37% of total positive cases registered in the State.

The State’s share is 2.57% in the country’s confirmed virus caseload while the active cases are 3.62% of India’s total active cases. The number of cured patients accounts for 2.45% of the country’s total recovery. Odisha has so far reported 0.83% of the country’s Coronavirus deaths. The overall positivity rate in the State stands at 5.98 per cent.

Meanwhile, the Odisha government discontinued plasma therapy for the treatment of COVID-19 in the state as per the revised guidelines issued by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

The spike in infections since the past fortnight is mainly due to the ramping up daily testing. As many as 61,665 samples were tested in the last 24 hours whereas the testing rate stood lowly at around 40,000 in the first week of May. The ramping up of testing and increasing the vaccination are the two viable options to break the chain of transmission, Public Health Director Mishra said.

If everything goes the right way, the State may witness flattening the curve of the disease towards the first week of June. However, it is not prudent to jump to a conclusion that virus will be flattened and its transmission will break in next ten to fifteen days, he added.