Bhubaneswar, Jul 14 (PTI) Odisha's COVID-19 tally raced past the 14,000-mark on Tuesday as 543 people, including an MLA, tested positive for the disease, while the toll rose to 74 with four more fatalities, a health department official said.

The state's case count now stands at 14,280, he said.

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Khurda district reported two deaths, while Ganjam and Cuttack districts reported one each, according to the official.

"Regret to inform the demise of four COVID-19 positive patients while under treatment in hospitals," the health department said in a statement.

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Three of the four deceased patients were suffering from other ailments like cancer, diabetes and heart disease.

A baby boy from Sundargarh district, who had also tested positive for COVID-19, died due to other complications, the official said.

Of the total 74 fatalities, 44 were reported from Ganjam, followed by 12 in Khurda, eight in Cuttack, two in Puri and one each in Angul, Bargarh, Bhadrak, Gajapati, Jajpur, Kendrapara, Rayagada and Sundergarh, he said.

With the 543 new cases Odisha's COVID-19 tally has risen to 14,280, the official said.

Ganjam, the state's coronavirus hotspot, recorded the maximum number of fresh cases at 188, followed by 87 in Khurda, 52 in Sundargarh, 39 in Cuttack, 29 in Gajapati, 24 in Rayagada, 22 each in Keonjhar and Mayurbhanj, 15 in Jagatsinghpur, 11 in Malkangiri and 10 in Kendrapada.

Twelve other districts reported positive cases in single digit.

BJD MLA from Remuna Sudhanshu Shekhar Parida was among the fresh cases. He is the third lawmaker in the state to test positive for COVID-19.

He was in home quarantine after he came in contact with BJP's Nilagiri MLA Sukanta Kumar Nayak, who had earlier tested positive for the disease.

Salipur MLA Prasant Behera had also tested positive.

BJD's Cuttack MP Bhartuhari Mahatab went in home quarantine at his Delhi residence after an official who he attended the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) meeting with on July 10 tested positive for COVID-19.

Frontline workers including doctors, health workers and police personnel accounted for more than half of the 52 new cases recorded in Sundargarh. As many as 36 police personnel, including a DSP and an inspector, tested positive for the disease.

In Sambalpur district, a doctor and a nurse of the Veer Surendra Sai Institute of Medical Sciences and Research (VIMSAR), Burla tested positive, following which the OPD of the radiotherapy department was closed and new admissions of patients stopped.

On Monday, a postgraduate medical student of VIMSAR and a nurse, who were on duty at the Central Intensive Care Unit (ICU), had tested positive for COVID-19.

Odisha also reported record 609 recoveries, taking the total number of cured people to 9,864, which is 69.07 per cent of the total 14,280 cases.

There are 4,320 active COVID-19 cases in the state.

Odisha had on Monday conducted 5,689 tests. With this, the total number of tests rose to 3,47,226.

Keeping in view the surge in the number of COVID-19 cases, the state government decided to start plasma therapy for critical patients in three hospitals from Wednesday.

While reviewing the coronavirus situation in the state, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik directed officials to strengthen monitoring in focus districts such as Ganjam, Cuttack, Jajpur, Sundargarh and Khurda.

Patnaik also ordered officials to arrange more ventilators, ambulances and beds in addition to deputation of adequate human resources in the focus districts.

He ordered that the number of daily tests be increased to 9,000 in the coming week.

According to the health department official, expeditious steps are being taken to add more beds, including 200 ICU beds in Cuttack, Bhubaneswar and Ganjam within seven days.

Sero Surveillance testing in Puri town and Community Sero Surveillance in Bhubaneswar have been completed, he said.

Meanwhile, Indian Institute of Management, Sambalpur (IIM-S), located in Burla area, announced that the institute will remain closed from July 15 to July 19 in view of the spiralling number of COVID-19 cases in the locality.

IIM-S Director Mahadeo Jaiswal said the institution has been closed as a preventive measure.

A report from Berhampur said in view of frontline workers, especially government officials, getting infected, the Ganjam district administration has further extended the closure of all government offices till the end of July.

As the total number of cases in Ganjam mounted to 4,335 with 188 new cases on Tuesday, Berhampur town was sealed, the official said.

(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)