Odisha reports 8,681 new COVID-19 cases, 14 deaths in last 24 hours

Odisha reported 8,681 new COVID-19 cases, 4,679 recoveries and related 14 deaths in the last 24 hours, the state health department said on Friday.

With this, the total number of confirmed cases has gone up to 4,44,194 of which 3,80,400 have recovered and 2,043 have succumbed to the infection in the state. The active cases stand at 61,698.

Of the fresh cases, 4,948 were detected among people in quarantine and 3,733 were local contacts, the bulletin further said. The state government has so far tested a total of 1,00,86,656 samples.

On Thursday, the Odisha government had announced that they will provide incentives to health care professionals on COVID-19 duty working under the Health and Family Welfare (H&FW) Department for the period of April to July this year.

Meanwhile, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on April 25 announced free vaccination against COVID-19 for all citizens of the state in the age group of 18 to 44 years.

The state government will spend Rs 2,000 crore on this vaccination drive, said the Chief Minister's Office (CMO).

( With inputs from ANI )