Odisha reported 26 fresh COVID 19 positive cases today with the total number rising to 245 in the State, confirmed the State Health and Family Welfare Department.

Out of the 26 cases detected, 19 COVID patients belong to Ganjam, taking the total count to 47 in the District. Among the remaining 7, five people are from Kendrapara and two from Bhadrak districts.

With the recent cases, now Ganjam stands at second position in the tally of active cases in the state next only to Jajpur which has 47 active cases, while the tally of Kendrapara stands at 8 with 6 active and Bhadrak at 23 with 11 active patients.

The details of the two cases in Bhadrak have been shared by the District Administration via a tweet.

Meanwhile,Uttar Pradesh government has suspended a majority of labour laws in the state for three years with a view to attract investment and to help both existing and new industrial units. The State government has also decided to establish Japanese help desk to attract the investment from Japanese companies and help them in starting their business in Uttar Pradesh.

In an attempt to make Uttar Pradesh favorite destination for investors, state cabinet recently finalized the freezing of major laws in favour of industry for 1 thousand days. After this amendment in labour law, state MSME and Export Promotion minister Sidharth Nath Singh yesterday interacted with Japanese Ambassador to India Satoshi Suzuki through video conferencing and said that Japanese help desk will be set up in the state to assist entrepreneurs from that country. The desk will work under supervision of KV Raju, the economic advisor of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

During the interaction, Suzuki evinced keen interest in sectors like electronics, food processing, industrial parks, pharmaceutical, medical equipment and automobile. Suzuki said the Japanese government has created 2.2 billion dollar fund to help companies migrating from China.