Rourkela: Two doctors on COVID-19 duty at the Rourkela Government Hospital (RGH) tested positive for the deadly virus in Odisha.

The two doctors are among 18 infected with COVID-19 in Sundergarh district today, informed Sundergarh Collector.

Total 18 samples were found positive for COVID in last 24 hours in the district, of which 15 are males and 3 females. While 14 cases have been reported from quarantine centres, 2 are cases are in home quarantine and two are local contacts. The two local contacts are the staff of RGH, the Collector said.

Among two, one is a woman doctor of the RGH. They were on the COVID-19 duty.

The contact tracing and sanitisation of the hospital is underway, the Collector said.

Source said that two doctors have been admitted to the Hitech COVID Hospital in Rourkela. The swabs of all the doctors and staff of the hospital have been collected and sent for the test.

Sharing details about 18 fresh cases, the district administration informed that 6 are jail inmates. They were quarantined at Special Jail in Rourkela. Of them, one is a Gujarat returnee. He was lodged in home quarantine at Kalunga. Another one, who is a Maharashtra returnee, is in Bargaon TMC(temporary medical camp), one (Maharashtra returnee) in Balishankar TMC, two in Lathikata TMC, one in Nuagaon home quarantine, one (Maharashtra returnee) in Biramitrapur TMC, 3 (Tamil Nadu, Bhadrak and Jajpur returnees) in Hitech Hospital.

With the fresh cases, the total count in the district rose to 99 with 49 active cases and 50 recovered cases. No fatality has been reported in the district so far. In Odisha, the COVID tally surged to 2856, of which 1129 are active and 1716 have recovered from the disease. However, the death toll increased to 9 in the State with a fresh death of a COVID patient in Ganjam district today.