Next 21 days crucial for Odisha in coronavirus war

BHUBANESWAR:   Odisha has reported over 2,000 positive cases in last one month and will closely watch the next 21 days, which the State Government on Tuesday said is going to be the most crucial phase in its coronavirus battle. On Monday, the State had imposed stronger weekend lockdown in 11 districts besides a prolonged night curfew going against the national current of unlocking activities in various sectors.

With the onset of monsoon, severe acute respiratory infection (SARI) as well as influenza like illness (ILI) will spike and the Government expects the next three weeks to be critical in these districts which account for 90 per cent of the cases. The cases have surged after return of the migrant workers from outside states. So far, 4.26 lakh migrant workers have returned but the inflow is on the decline. As the number of State-bound trains and buses has dropped significantly, the number is likely to plateau at 5 lakh by month-end. Ninety-five per cent of the positive cases of Odisha have come in from the quarantine centres.

Over next three weeks, incubation period of most of the quarantined migrant workers would be complete too. This window would give a clear picture going forward. “We are aware of the fact that the whole country is taking another direction but we would like to endure to a bit longer. The strategy behind weekend lockdowns and longer night curfew is to cut infection peak during this 21-day phase,” Secretary 5T V Karthikeyan Pandian explained during an interaction with Editors of mediahouses here.

In terms of slowing down the infection rate, Odisha has been ahead of other states as it took 37 days to reach the 2000th case from 100 mark. It is only behind Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh so far as number of tests (1,55,690) are concerned for first 2000 positive cases in the country. To understand the overall situation, he said, the Government has analysed the mortality rate of last three years and found that there has been no spike during the lockdown period even after factoring in the road accident casualties. “We have also tied up with major research organisations to study why in some cases carriers from major hostpsots of the country did not infect their immediate contacts despite close association over a prolonged period,” Pandian informed.