Bhubaneswar, Feb 17 (PTI) Odisha's COVID-19 death toll mounted to 8,961 on Thursday as 16 more people, including a child, succumbed to the virus, while the caseload rose to 12,80,784 with 886 fresh infections, the health department said.

The state had reported 19 fatalities and 852 single-day cases on Wednesday.

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Odisha now has 8,664 active cases, and 12,63,106 patients have recovered from the disease so far, the department said in a bulletin.

Health Services Director Bijay Mohapatra said the latest Covid wave was on the wane with decreasing cases and low hospitalisation rate.

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"The situation will gradually improve unless there is another surge like the one caused by omicron (variant)," Mohapatra said at a press briefing.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)