Infections in Odisha push up Covid-19 numbers in east India

BHUBANESWAR: The new Covid-19 cases which are being added to the state’s daily share — mostly contributed by Cuttack and Bhubaneswar — are much higher as compared to the numbers reported from the neighbouring states in the past few days.
Odisha reported 3,631 new infections on Thursday, taking the total number of infected persons to 1,13,411 in the state. With eight more deaths, the fatalities surged to 522.
Odisha is the only state in eastern India which is recording more than 3000 cases on a daily basis, while the number is much lower in Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal and Bihar. Assam in the northeast has added an average of 3,000 cases on a daily basis in the past three days. Neighbouring Telangana in the south has been reporting fewer than 3,000 cases a day.
Reviewing the state’s Covid situation, chief minister Naveen Patnaik asked officials to strengthen its virus combating strategy in Khurda (of which Bhubaneswar is a part) and Cuttack, the two districts reporting very high number of positive cases.
Naveen added that resumption of transport and floods pose challenges to the fight against the virus. “The new strategy for fighting the pandemic must keep these things in mind,” he was quoted as saying in a government statement. Naveen observed that Odisha’s Covid situation was better as compared to the national average.
The state has crossed the milestone of testing 20 lakh samples. “Around 42,404 tests are being done per 10 lakh people in the state, which is better compared to the national average (34,100),” the chief minister said. Similarly, the state’s death rate at 0.46% is much lower than the national average of 1.77%.
Khurda goes past Ganjam as district with most cases
Khurda eclipsed Ganjam as the district reporting the highest number of cases after 722 more tested positive in the last 24 hours.
These include 580 from Bhubaneswar alone. With this, the total number of people infected in Khurda rose to 18,881 compared to 18,345 in Ganjam, which reported 107 new cases on the day. Bhubaneswar accounts for 11,853 cases. Ganjam has, however, reported more (197) Covid deaths than Khurda (70).
Khurda also has the highest active cases followed by Cuttack, Mayurbhanj (365), Bargarh (238) and Ganjam (107). Cuttack district on Thursday added 370 new cases, including 237 from the city. Additional chief secretary (health) Pradipta Kumar Mohapatra said the number of new cases might be due to aggressive testing of samples. “More than 50,000 samples are being tested on a daily basis. In parameters such as positivity rate, deaths and cure rate, Odisha is far better placed than other states. The number of patients getting cured is improving every passing day,” he added.
Mohapatra said there would be another strategy meeting for Khurda and Cuttack on Friday. The government is working on a war footing to add 200 more ICU beds in Cuttack and Bhubaneswar and deploy additional manpower, he added. Notably, the twin cities have 150 of the 550 ICU beds in the state.
“A portion of SCB Medical College, Cuttack, will be converted in to a Covid hospital with 100 ICU beds,” Mohapatra said. Similarly, another private hospital in Bhubaneswar is being converted into a Covid hospital. As many as 3,278 patients recovered on Thursday, taking the number of cured patients to 87,351. The state’s recovery rate now stands at 77%. The new deaths include three from Ganjam, a woman aged 78 years and two men aged 45 and 56 years