Odisha on Thursday logged over 3,000 COVID-19 positive cases for the second day in a row as 3,650 more people tested positive for the virus infection with the contagion tally rising to 8,90,596.

44 fresh fatalities were also reported in the last 24 hours, pushing the State’s novel coronavirus death toll to 3,761, according to the Odisha COVID dashboard portal updated at 8.36 am.

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As many as 2,098 new cases were reported in quarantine centres, while the remaining 1,552 new infections were detected during contract tracing.

The daily positivity rate rose to 5.30% from 5.4 percent on Wednesday, thus underlining the fact that over five people are testing positive out of 100 samples.

Khurda district, of which Bhubaneswar is a part, recorded the highest number of new cases at 604, followed by Cuttack (485) and Jajpur (322), he said.

Khurda district topped the fresh fatality toll with nine deaths, followed by five each from Bargarh and Cuttack and four from Puri. Those who succumbed to infection included three in the age group of 20-23 years. Fifty-three other coronavirus patients have died due to comorbidities to date.

Odisha now has 33,770 active cases, while 8,53,012 people have recovered from the disease thus far, including 4,052 on Wednesday.

The state has so far tested over 1.32 crore samples for COVID-19, including 65,845 on Wednesday. Odisha’s cumulative positivity rate stands at 6.68 per cent.

The State’s recovery rate currently stands at 95.77% while the active cases account for 3.79% of total positive cases registered in the State.

The State’s share is 2.97% in the country’s confirmed virus caseload while the active cases are 5.29% of India’s total active cases. The number of cured patients accounts for 2.94% of the country’s total recovery. Odisha has so far reported 0.96% of the country’s Coronavirus deaths.

Meanwhile the State government has cancelled the global e-tender floated Odisha State Medical Corporation Limited for procuring Covid-19 vaccines with virtually no takers for the tender bidding.

In another development, the government directed district authorities and municipal corporations to administer COVID-19 vaccines to nationals from Nepal, who are employed in the state, even if they do not possess registration-related documents. The state government’s move was based on recommendations of the National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration for COVID-19 (NEGVAC).

Earlier, the Odisha government had directed district administrations to vaccinate vulnerable people, even if they do not have the required identity proof. The state has vaccinated more than one crore people so far. The State had vaccinated a record 3.32 lakh people on 21 June after the Centre rolled out a free vaccination policy of free Covid vaccines to all citizens above 18 years of age.