Odisha on Friday recorded a steep rise in daily COVID-19 cases with 12,523 persons testing positive for coronavirus in the last 24 hours, the highest since the pandemic outbreak. This is the third time since the onset of the pandemic that Odisha has crossed the 12,000 mark in daily infections. The state also witnessed record deaths with as many as 27 persons succumbing to the virus during the period. Alarmingly, the test positivity rate (TPR) once again jumped past 20 per cent.