4 fresh COVID-19 cases in Odisha, total count rises to 54

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Four more people, including a 17-year-old girl, have tested positive for COVID-19 in Odisha, taking the total number of cases in the state to 54, officials said on Sunday. All the four were asymptomatic and their samples were collected for testing as part of routine surveillance, a Health and Family Welfare Department official said. While two of them are from Bisra area of Sundargarh district, another is from Bhubaneswar and the minor is a resident of Ranjagar area in Kendrapara district, he said. They were tested positive for the virus on Saturday night.

Of the newly diagnosed patients, a 67-year-old man from Bisra area had attended the Tablighi Jamaat congregation in Delhi last month.

After attending the event, he took Sampark Kranti Express train to Bilaspur in Chhattisgarh on March 10 and from there boarded a connecting train to Rourkela the next day. From there, he travelled to Bisra on a shared auto-rickshaw. He was put under quarantine till April 2.

Another COVID-19 patient is an 18-year-old man from Birsa who had come in contact with the Tablighi Jamaat member.

The minor girl had took a private ambulance from Kolkata on March 29. She was put under home quarantine on March 30 and now shifted to an exclusive COVID-19 hospital at Cuttack, Kendrapara District Collector Samarth Verma said.

Of the total 3,551 samples tested so far, 3,494 were found negative and 54 positive.

The state has 41 active coronavirus cases. While 12 patients have recovered, one died.

National Health Mission (NHM) director Shalini Pandit has said that over 80 per cent of the novel coronavirus patients in the state are asymptomatic.