Odisha not among top 22 states in Covid testing

BHUBANESWAR: Even as Covid-19 cases continued to surge, Odisha does not figure in the list of 22 States that have been conducting more than 140 tests per day per million population on the lines what WHO considers a comprehensive testing volume. As per data shared by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Tuesday, the national average of testing per day per million population is 201. Goa tops the list of 22 States with 1058 tests while Mizoram is at the bottom with 149 tests. However, despite registering high cases through the last fortnight, testing rate in Odisha continued to be low as 5689 tests were conducted in last 24 hours and it translated to about 130 tests per day per million.

Although highest 7,239 tests were conducted on July 11 and 7010 tests on July 12, the number of tests came down by over 20 per cent on Monday. Among high disease burden States, Delhi’s per day per million testing figure was 987 while Maharashtra was doing about 198 tests, Tamil Nadu 563, Assam 310 and Andhra Pradesh 260 tests. Gujarat and West Bengal were among the States with low testing rate. Emphasising the need for comprehensive testing of suspected cases, the Centre has asked the States to pull up testing to WHO prescribed levels.

Meanwhile, 543 new cases were reported from 23 districts in last 24 hours taking the tally to 14280. The death toll rose to 96 as five more Covid patients succumbed during treatment. Four patients who died due to Covid-19 included one woman (40) from Khurda and 3 men, aged 71, 80 and 71 from Cuttack, Ganjam and Bhubaneswar respectively. On the day, Odisha also posted its biggest single day recovery of 609 patients from 21 districts. After a total 9864 patients recovered, the active cases came down to 4320.