Odisha a health department in a statement said that the COVID-19 tally in Odisha crossed the six-lakh mark on Saturday. The state reported to have 11,805 more people tested positive for the infection, while 21 fresh fatalities pushed the state's death toll to 2,294,

With these new infections, the caseload of coronavirus disease reached 6,00,492 in the coastal state, he said.

At least 6,611 fresh cases were reported from quarantine centres and 5,194 detected during contact tracing.

Khurda district, which comprises the state capital Bhubaneswar, reported the highest number of new cases at 1,414, followed by Sundargarh (1,209) and Cuttack (1197).

The Health and Family Welfare Department in a Twitter note said, ''Regret to inform the demise of twenty-one COVID positive patients while under treatment in hospitals.'' Four new fatalities were recorded in Khurda, three in Angul, two each in Kalahandi, Kendrapara, Puri, Rayagada and Sundergarh and one each in Boudh, Gajapati, Koraput and Nuapada, the official said.

Odisha now has 1,06,471 active cases, and 4,91,674 patients have so far recovered from the disease. Fifty-three other COVID patients have also died due to comorbidities.

The state has conducted over 1.08 crore sample tests for COVID-19 thus far, including 57,002 on Friday, and the positivity rate stands at 5.55 per cent.

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