The COVID-19 death toll in Odisha mounted to 21 on Sunday with three more patients succumbing to the disease, while the count of cases rose to 6,614 after 264 more people tested positive for the infection, a health official said.
The fresh fatalities were reported from Bhubaneswar, Ganjam and Cuttack districts, the Health and Family Welfare Department said in a statement.
The deceased persons included a 73-year-old man from Bhubaneswar, who was suffering from diabetes, hypertension and chronic kidney ailments, a 65-year-old man from Cuttack and a 75-year-old man from Ganjam, both of whom had diabetes and hypertension, the official said.
The COVID-19 death toll in Ganjam district has increased to 10, followed by Khurda (5), Cuttack (4) and one each in Bargarh and Puri, he said, adding that the state had reported its first COVID-19 fatality in Bhubaneswar on April 6.
Besides, seven other COVID-19 patients had died earlier but the cause of their deaths was attributed to other diseases, he said.
Odisha has also reported 264 fresh COVID-19 cases from 23 districts, taking the state''s tally to 6,614, the official said.
Of the new cases, 234 were reported from quarantine centres where returnees from other states are housed, while 30 others had come in contact with COVID-19 patients, he said.
Districts that reported a high number of fresh cases are Ganjam (76), Jajpur (41), Keonjhar (25), Bargarh and Jharsuguda (18 each), Mayurbhanj and Khurda (15 each) and Balasore (12), the official said.
Of the 6,614 cases, 1,980 are active while 4,606 people have recovered and 28 patients have died so far, he said.
Meanwhile, the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation has declared the area from Trinath Temple Chowk to the airport boundary in the city as a containment zone.